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Ultrasound‐guided dry needling decreases pain in patients with piriformis syndrome
Author(s) -
Tabatabaiee Abbas,
Takamjani Ismail Ebrahimi,
Sarrafzadeh Javad,
Salehi Reza,
Ahmadi Maryam
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.26671
Subject(s) - dry needling , medicine , piriformis syndrome , visual analogue scale , randomized controlled trial , quality of life (healthcare) , physical therapy , anesthesia , low back pain , surgery , acupuncture , sciatica , alternative medicine , nursing , pathology
Piriformis muscle syndrome (PMS) is a disorder that can lead to symptoms of buttock pain and limited hip‐joint mobility, and may have an impact on quality of life. Methods Thirty‐two patients with PMS were randomized to the treatment group, which included three sessions of ultrasound‐guided dry needling (DN) of the piriformis muscle (n = 16), or a waitlist control group (n = 16). The primary outcome was pain intensity measured on the visual analog scale recorded at baseline and then at 72 hours and 1 week after treatment. Results At 1‐week follow‐up, pain intensity was significantly less in the DN group than in the waitlist control group (−2.16 [−1.01 to −3.32], P = .007) by an amount consistent with clinically meaningful improvement. Discussion The findings suggest that DN resulted in clinically meaningful short‐term improvement in pain intensity of patients with PMS.