Effects of Dry Needling in Patients With Upper Cross Syndrome
Condition: Neck Syndrome
MeSH terms: Syndrome
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The study will be done to evaluate the effectiveness of dry needling of muscles involved in
      Upper Cross Syndrome. Muscles involved in upper cross syndrome are tight upper trap, Levator
      Scapulae, Sternocledomastoid , Pectorals major and minor and rhomboids. Physical assessment
      of trigger points will locate the target area for dry needling. After pre treatment
      measurements, dry needling will be performed to treatment group and stretching, hot pack and
      tens will be apply in control group. Study design will be randomized controlled trial and
      sample size will be 34 participants. Data will be collected from Riphah Rehabilitation
      Center. Patients of 20-50 years old with UCS diagnosed through observation and physical
      examination will be included. Patients with systemic soft tissue and bony diseases will be
      excluded. Intervention duration will be two session of DNT with two weeks routine management.
      Basic tools will be Visual analog scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Goniometry
    

Detailed description: 
      Dry needling is relatively new method for the management of musculoskeletal pain.Different
      methods of dry needling, its effectiveness, and physiologic and adverse effects are
      discussed. Dry needling is a treatment modality that is minimally invasive, cheap, easy to
      learn with appropriate training, and carries a low risk. The deep method of dry needling has
      been shown to be more effective than the superficial one for the treatment of pain associated
      with myofascial trigger points. However, over areas with potential risk of significant
      adverse events, such as lungs and large blood vessels, we suggest using the superficial
      technique, which has also been shown to be effective. Questionnaire for assessing the
      improvement in quality of life is by NDI and ranges like neck flexion/extension, side bending
      and rotation will be measured by standard goniometry. Neck disability index will use to check
      the patient's ability to perform his ADL before and after the treatment/control. Data will be
      collected from Riphah rehab center. Assessed patients of UCS of age 20 to 50 will be the
      targeted population of this study. Patients with systematic and bony disease excluded from
      the study. Population having stiff upper back, tight trap and stiff upper thoracic spine have
      UCS. Ethical guidelines will be followed for both treatment and control group. SPSS version
      21 will be use for data analysis with sample size of 34 participants, 17 participants each
      group that will randomly allocated in treatment/control group.
    

Intervention name(s): Dry Needling; Hot pack , TENS , Stretching
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Dry needling on Upper trapezius, Levator Scapulae, Sternocledomastoid , Pectorals major and minor and rhomboids for 10 min; Treatments are
Hot Pack for 15 minutes
TENS for 10 minutes
Stretching
The third treatment which is Stretching will be given one time on each muscle (tight upper trap, Levator Scapulae, Sternocledomastoid , Pectorals major and minor and rhomboids) of upper spine
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Dry needling, upper cross syndrome, VAS, NDI, goniometry