Effects of dry needling in the sternocleidomastoid muscle on cervical motor control in patients with neck pain: a randomised clinical trial

Objective: To determine the changes produced by trigger point dry needling (TrP-DN) of sternocleidomastoid in patients with neck pain, and to observe how it might modify cervical motor control (CMC). Design: Single-centre, randomised, double-blinded clinical trial. Setting: Participants were recruited through advertising. The duration of the study was 6 months. Subjects: Thirty-four subjects with non-specific neck pain, aged over 18 years with an active myofascial trigger point in sternocleidomastoid, participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. Methods: TrP-DN inside or (1.5 cm) outside of the active myofascial trigger point of sternocleidomastoid. Main outcome measures: CMC, visual analogue scale and cervical range of motion were assessed before treatment, immediately post treatment, and 24 h, 1 week and 1 month after the intervention; the neck disability index was evaluated before treatment and 1 month later. Results: With a confidence interval of 99%, TrP-DN of sternocleidomastoid was associated with a decrease in pain after 1 week and CMC improved 1 month after the intervention (p < 0.001), when compared with baseline measurements, within the experimental group; there were no statistically significant differences between experimental and control groups. Conclusion: The effects of TrP-DN inside and outside of active myofascial trigger points did not differ in this study. Both interventions were associated with a similar temporal effect, specifically a reduction in neck pain at 1 week and an increase CMC at 1 month. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the lack of a contemporaneous untreated control group.