Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40229803›Full record

Trial reportChiropractic & manual therapies2025

A comparative study of sonographic and clinical parameters in patient with upper trapezius muscle trigger point following dry needling and intramuscular electrical stimulation: a randomized control trial.

Monavar Hadizadeh, Abbas Rahimi, Meysam Velayati, Mohammad Javaherian, Farokh Naderi, Abbasali Keshtkar, Jan Dommerholt

Abstract readRandomized Controlled TrialComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Chiropractic & manual therapies, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
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  3. Article
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  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Monavar HadizadehDepartment of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, # Damavand Ave, Tehran, 16169-13111, Iran.
Abbas RahimiDepartment of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, # Damavand Ave, Tehran, 16169-13111, Iran. a_rahimi@sbmu.ac.ir.ORCID 0000-0002-9561-2186
Meysam VelayatiDepartment of Radiology, Akhtar Orthopedic Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad JavaherianDepartment of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Farokh NaderiDepartment of Radiology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abbasali KeshtkarDepartment of Health Sciences Education Development, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Jan DommerholtBethesda Physiocare, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe most common cause of muscle pain is myofascial pain syndrome. Myofascial pain syndrome caused by sensitive areas called trigger points (TrP). Some physiotherapy modalities have acceptable effects for this disorder, but it is necessary to check the effects of placebo, appropriate dose, and long-term effects for each intervention. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) compared to dry needling (DN) on sonographic and clinical parameters in upper trapezius muscle TrP.

methodsThis is a randomized, single-blind control trial. The study period was from December 2, 2020, to April 10, 2021. Thirty volunteer patients with active upper trapezius TrP were randomly allocated into two groups: (1) IMES, (2) DN. Participants received interventions in three sessions. Primary outcome measurements were neck range of motion (ROM) and TrP circumference. Secondary outcome measurements were pain by visual analog scale (VAS), pain pressure threshold (PPT), disability, TrP longitudinal and transverse diameter, TrP stiffness, and muscle blood flow by vascular resistance index (RI). All outcome measurements were evaluated before, after, and one month after the intervention. If the data were normal, the repeated measure ANOVA test was used; if data were not normal, the Friedman test and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. A significance level of 0.05 has considered.

resultsROM increment was significantly more in the IMES group. TrP circumference decrement was significantly more in the IMES group. VAS changes did not show significant difference between two groups. The PPT improvement was significantly more in the IMES group. Disability changes were not significant. Longitudinal diameter changes were significantly more in the IMES group. TrP stiffness changes were not significant. The vascular RI decreased significantly in IMES group.

conclusionIt seems that both IMES and DN have promising effects for improving upper trapezius TrPs. However, IMES is more effective in some clinical and ultrasound parameters. In order to investigate the effects of this intervention more precisely more studies are necessary.

trial registrationThis study was prospectively registered at Iranian registry of clinical trials (IRCT: IRCT20170616034567N2).

Indexed as

Dry NeedlingElectric Stimulation TherapyMyofascial Pain SyndromesSuperficial Back MusclesTrigger PointsAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementRange of Motion, ArticularSingle-Blind MethodUltrasonographyYoung AdultDry needlingIntramuscular electrical stimulationMyofascial painTrigger pointUltrasound imagingUpper trapezius

Identifiers

PMID40229803
PMCPMC11998240

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.