Clinical trial NCT02312895: Comparing Dry Needling to Manual Therapy for Patients With Mechanical Low Back Pain
Official title: Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Use of Dry Needling to Manual Therapy for Patients With Mechanical Low Back Pain.
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Low Back Pain
Lead sponsor: Youngstown State University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-12-09
Enrollment: 73
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This is a comparative study to determine if there is a difference in pain reduction and disability between dry needling and manual therapy for patients with low back pain. Subjects will be seen two times per week for 3 weeks (6 visits) and will receive either dry needling or manual mobilizations along with patient education and a home exercise program.

Detailed description: Procedures:

Subjects will sign the informed consent prior to any examination procedures. Eligibility assessment will be performed by the treating physical therapist and will include the subject filling out the demographic / health history questionnaire, outcome measures, and a clinical examination. The treating physical therapist will use 2 components of the examination for eligibility criteria into the study. The treating therapist will press on the subject's joints in their back to try to elicit their chief complaint. The treating physical therapist will also press on the soft tissue of the subject's back to check for any symptomatic points. A symptomatic point would include recreation of their chief complaint, tenderness, hypersensitivity, or referred pain. The treating physical therapist will then draw an X on the patient's back where the most symptomatic tissue exists. This point will be used by the data collecting physical therapist in order to collect pain pressure threshold of the area.

The data collecting physical therapist will have the subject complete an Oswestry Disability Index(ODI), gather a measure of the pain from the patient ,and the pain pressure threshold. Each subject will then be allocated to either the manual therapy group or the dry needling group.

Once a subject is assigned to a group, they will receive either dry needling or manual therapy mobilizations by the treating therapist. Each subject will remain in the assigned group as long as they are continuing in the study up to 3 weeks. In addition to the treatments under investigation, a standardized home exercise program will be assigned to each of the subjects by the treating physical therapist. This program will be given to and reviewed with each subject to ensure they understand the exercises and will perform the exercise program 1x/day for the duration they are under the care of the physical therapist for the study. Subjects will be treated on day 1 of their plan of care and subsequent treatments will occur 2x/week for a total of 3 weeks, unless discharge occurs earlier than the 3 week data point. Early discharge will occur if the subject achieves resolution of symptoms or if they decide they no longer wish to be a research participant.

Subsequent sessions will involve the collection of outcome data by the data-collecting therapist followed by treatment performed by the treating physical therapist. No adjustments will be made to the treatment protocol in any of the sessions. Subjects will only be scheduled with and treated by the same treating physical therapist each session. In the event that a treating physical therapist is unable to see a subject participating in the study, the subject will be rescheduled for a different time to receive care.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* There will be 72 subjects participating in this study that present with mechanical low back pain, ranging from 18-70 years old. The 72 subjects includes a 20% attrition rate 12 additional subjects. The total needed for analysis is 60 subjects, 30 per group.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Subjects will be excluded if the examining therapist cannot provoke either active or latent MTrPs of the subject's low back muscles and/or elicit symptoms with manual passive movement of the spine at the joints of the low back. Exclusion criteria will also consist of the presence of any red flags revealed in the patient history (i.e., tumor, metabolic diseases, RA, osteoporosis, prolonged history of steroid use, prior lumbar surgery, current pregnancy, etc.) or examination (i.e. signs consistent with significant nerve root compression). Subjects will be excluded if they demonstrate signs of Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), are currently seeking litigation, are unable to speak English, and/or have been diagnosed with a condition that can cause prolonged MTrPs such as fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, or iron deficiency. In addition, no patients who have a transmittable blood disease will be included.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Oswestry Disability Index (change over time)
timeFrame: The ODI will be recorded at baseline, 1 week, 2 weeks, and discharge/3 weeks.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Numerical Pain Rating Scale (change over time)
timeFrame: The NPRS will be recorded at baseline, immediately following treatment, at 1 week, 2 weeks, and discharge/3 weeks.
measure: Pain pressure threshold (change over time)
timeFrame: The NPRS will be recorded at baseline, immediately following treatment, at 1 week, 2 weeks, and discharge/3 weeks.
measure: Percentage of recovery (one time assessment at the end of the 3 weeks)
timeFrame: 3 weeks or Discharge
measure: Patient Specific Functional Scale Score
timeFrame: PSFS score collected at baseline, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks or discharge
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Youngstown
country: United States
facility: Youngstown state university
state: Ohio
Study officials:
affiliation: Faculty
name: Ken Learman, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Faculty
name: David W Griswold, Doctorate
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Furlan AD, van Tulder M, Cherkin D, Tsukayama H, Lao L, Koes B, Berman B. Acupuncture and dry-needling for low back pain: an updated systematic review within the framework of the cochrane collaboration. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2005 Apr 15;30(8):944-63. doi: 10.1097/01.brs.0000158941.21571.01.
citation: Ziaeifar M, Arab AM, Karimi N, Nourbakhsh MR. The effect of dry needling on pain, pressure pain threshold and disability in patients with a myofascial trigger point in the upper trapezius muscle. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2014 Apr;18(2):298-305. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2013.11.004. Epub 2013 Nov 9.
citation: Cook C, Learman K, Showalter C, Kabbaz V, O'Halloran B. Early use of thrust manipulation versus non-thrust manipulation: a randomized clinical trial. Man Ther. 2013 Jun;18(3):191-8. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2012.08.005. Epub 2012 Oct 2.