ReviewPain research & management2026
The Effect of Dry Needling on Sleep Quality in Individuals With Musculoskeletal Pain Disorders.
Review in Pain research & management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The Effect of Dry Needling on Sleep Quality in Individuals With Musculoskeletal Pain Disorders.Pain research & management · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: To explore existing evidence and identify whether dry needling (DN) intervention has effects on sleep disturbance in patients with musculoskeletal pain. Methods: The Arksey and O'Malley framework guided the scoping review methodology. Seven databases were searched for clinical trials investigating DN in musculoskeletal pain disorders. Methodological quality was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. Data extraction included study year, location, study design, musculoskeletal pain disorder, needling intervention type, and sleep outcome measure utilized. Results: After duplicates were removed, 2292 articles were identified, and 33 studies were included in the review after independent screening. Two supplemental searches (May 2023 and January 2024) in addition to a hand search yielded an additional 146 articles. A total of 21 of those studies were also included, increasing the total to 54 studies. A total of 46 (84%) articles were RCTs and 8 (16%) were single-group, pretest-posttest clinical trials. A total of 9 studies were of optimal quality (PEDro score ≥ 8), and 11 were of moderate-to-high quality (PEDro score = 7). Discussion: Due to significant variability in intervention, sleep outcome measurement, patient population, and study methodology quality, the evidence is mixed and inconclusive to support or refute the effects of DN on sleep deficits in individuals with musculoskeletal pain. However, future studies investigating the effects of needling interventions on musculoskeletal pain conditions should include valid sleep outcome measurements if considered.
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Registered trials
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.