ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To attempt to establish an objective quantitative indicator to characterize the trigger point activity, so as to evaluate the effect of dry needling on myofascial trigger point activity. METHODS: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into blank control group, dry needling (needling) group, stretching exercise (stretching) group and needling plus stretching group (nï¼6 per group). The chronic myofascial pain (trigger point) model was established by freedom vertical fall of a wooden striking device onto the mid-point of gastrocnemius belly of the left hind-limb to induce contusion, followed by forcing the rat to make a continuous downgrade running exercise at a speed of 16 m/min for 90 min on the next day which was conducted once a week for 8 weeks. Electromyography (EMG) of the regional myofascial injured point was monitored and recorded using an EMG recorder via electrodes. It was considered success of the model if spontaneous electrical activities appeared in the injured site. After a 4 weeks' recovery, rats of the needling group were treated by filiform needle stimulation (lifting-thrusting-rotating) of the central part of the injured gastrocnemius belly (about 10 mm deep) for 6 min, and those of the stretching group treated by holding the rat's limb to make the hip and knee joints to an angle of about 180°, and the ankle-joint about 90° for 1 min every time, 3 times altogether (with an interval of 1 min between every 2 times). The activity of the trigger point was estimated by the sample entropy of the EMG signal sequence in reference to Richman's and Moorman's methods to estimate the curative effect of both needling and exercise. RESULTS: After the modeling cycle, the mean sample entropies of EMG signals was significantly decreased in the model groups (needling group [0.034±0.010], stretching group [0.045±0.023], needling plus stretching group [0.047±0.034]) relevant to the blank control group (0.985±0.196, P<0.01). After the treatment, the mean sample entropy of EMG signals was evidently increased in both needling (0.819±0.088), stretching (0.532±0.25) and needling plus stretching (0.810±0.117) groups (P<0.01). The mean sample entropy of the needling and needling plus stretching groups were significantly higher than that of the stretching group (P<0.01), without remarkable difference between the two needling groups in the mean sample entropy (P>0.05), suggesting a better efficacy of dry needling in easing trigger point activity. CONCLUSION: Dry needling is able to relieve myofascial trigger point activity in rats, which is better than that of simple passive stretching therapy.
