Trial reportJournal of pain research2026
Trigger Point Electrical Dry Needling with Different Waveforms Plus Intra-Articular Corticosteroid for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of pain research, 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
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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.
- Trigger Point Electrical Dry Needling with Different Waveforms for Knee Osteoarthritis: Mechanistic Insights and Methodological Considerations [Letter].Journal of pain research · 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
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a common musculoskeletal disorder associated with pain, functional limitation, and substantial healthcare burden. Purpose: To compare the efficacy of trigger point electrical dry needling (electrical-DN) with different waveforms, combined with intra-articular corticosteroid injection (CSI), in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods: A total of 138 participants were randomized to the sham stimulation group (Group S), dense-disperse wave group (Group D), or continuous wave group (Group C). All groups received a single CSI. Group S had no electrical stimulation, while Group D and Group C were treated with dense-disperse wave and continuous wave, respectively. Electrical stimulation was administered for 20 minutes per session, once weekly for two weeks. Assessments were obtained at the following time points: baseline, post-treatment weeks 1, 4, 8, and 12. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the numerical rating scale (NRS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), Knee Flexion Range of Motion (FROM), rescue medication use, and adverse events. Repeated measures were analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE), and other comparisons were performed using appropriate parametric or nonparametric tests. Results: Group D showed lower NRS scores than Group C at weeks 8 and 12 and a lower WOMAC score at week 12 (all Conclusion: Trigger point electrical dry needling may provide additional benefit in pain relief for patients with KOA when used after CSI. Among the two electrical-DN groups, the dense-disperse waveform was associated with a modest advantage in pain relief at later follow-up time points.
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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.