Trial reportScientific reports2025
Effects of dry needling combined with exercise on knee osteoarthritis at 6 month follow up a randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06816940 (Analysis of Dry Needling Combined With an Exercise Program in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis Knee), which is not on this map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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.
Analysis of Dry Needling Combined With an Exercise Program in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis Knee: Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Non-Pharmacological Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Scoping Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Effectiveness of dry needling combined with exercise therapy versus exercise alone for pain and functional outcomes in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Therapeutic exercise has been recommended for people with knee osteoarthritis; however, it can be combined with other treatments, such as dry needling. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the results of pain, functionality, strength, range of motion and kinesiophobia in subjects with knee osteoarthritis, after treatment with dry needling of the popliteus muscle combined with an exercise program, compared to only performing an exercise program. This study was registered in the Clinical Trials Registry ClinicalTrials.gov (code: NCT06816940). A total of 38 participants were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group, who conducted dry needling and therapeutic exercise (n = 18), and the control group, who performed therapeutic exercise and simulated dry needling (n = 20). The intervention lasted three weeks: dry needling was applied once per week, and the exercise program was performed four times per week. Variables such as pain, functionality, neuropathic pain, stiffness, range of motion, strength, pain catastrophizing and kinesiophobia were evaluated pre/post intervention and after 3/6 months. Significant between-group differences favoring the experimental group were observed, including maximum pain (VAS: mean change 30 [95% CI 18.4-42.0], p < 0.001) and functional disability (WOMAC: mean change 16.0 [95% CI 7.9-23.9], p < 0.001), with additional improvements observed in other measures. These findings suggest that popliteus muscle dry needling added to exercise showed better results in pain, functionality, strength, pain catastrophizing and kinesiophobia improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis at 6-month follow-up compared to exercise alone.
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Registered trials
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