Electrical Dry Needling and Therapeutic Exercise Versus Therapeutic Exercise in Patients With Nonspecific Chronic Neck Pain

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Chronic Pain; Neck Pain

• Registration Number: NCT06522893
• Lead Sponsor: Universidad de Almeria

Brief Summary

To compare the effectiveness of electrical dry needling combined with therapeutic exercise versus therapeutic exercise alone in patients with nonspecific chronic mechanical neck pain.

Detailed Description

Neck pain is highly prevalent, affecting 203 million people worldwide in 2020 and ranking eleventh in terms of years lived with disability. More than 50% of individuals will not recover from an acute episode and will experience recurrent neck pain within 1 to 5 years, leading to a persistent and chronic problem. Chronic neck pain can originate from a traumatic episode, such as whiplash, or it may not have a traumatic origin. In the latter case, in the absence of an identifiable pathoanatomic cause, it is classified as nonspecific chronic neck pain (NSNP). The GBD 2021 study acknowledges that the burden of neck pain has not been reduced in the past three decades and projects a significant increase in this absolute burden by 2050. Several studies have highlighted the urgency of prioritizing future research on preventing and treating this condition.

Clinical practice guidelines for the management of NSNP advocate for the use of exercise. Specifically, it has been shown that specific neck exercises are more effective than other types of alternative exercises in reducing pain and disability in patients with NSNP. In recent years, treatment based on electrical Dry Needling (DN) has gained popularity and has become an alternative to conventional treatment for soft tissue injuries, noted for its low incidence of significant side effects. This technique seeks to induce a local mechanical and microtraumatic response, optimizing the release of endogenous opioids, decreasing cortisol, improving microcirculation, and reducing proinflammatory mediators. All of this can contribute to improved motor control and pain relief. Additionally, the advent of ultrasound technology has provided new opportunities to improve the safety of this invasive approach.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2024-07-18
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-07-22
• Study First Posted: 2024-07-26
• Status Verified: 2025-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-10-02
• Last Update Posted: 2025-10-08
• Study Start: 2025-11-15
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-15
• Study Completion: 2026-03-15

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 70

Inclusion Criteria

• Male and female patients aged between 30 and 65 years with chronic cervical pain lasting 3 months or more and not receiving any other type of physiotherapy treatment.

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients with sensory and/or coagulation disorders, history of spine surgery, cardiac complications, severe concurrent central or peripheral nervous system disease, epilepsy, needle phobia, disc pathology, or serious pathologies that may be the primary cause of chronic cervical pain (e.g., tumors, Arnold Chiari disease, vertigo syndrome, etc.) will be excluded, as they are contraindicated for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Neck disability index	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	The neck disability index consists of 10 questions addressing functional activities such as personal care, lifting, reading, work, driving, sleeping, recreational, pain intensity, concentration and headache.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Treatment expectations	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	Questionnaire on treatment expectations and the patient's perception level
Expectations regarding cervical pain	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	Questionnaire on expectations regarding cervical pain
Pain (Visual Analog Scale)	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	Pain will be assessed with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), which assesses the pain intensity and degree of relief experienced by the patient (scored of 0 = no pain; 10 = unbearable pain).
McGill Pain Questionnaire	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	The McGill Pain Questionnaire is a self-reporting measure of pain used for patients with a number of diagnoses. It assesses both quality and intensity of subjective pain. The MPQ is a multi-dimesional tool for pain assessment and it has three components, which are the sensory intensity, the cognitive evaluation of pain and the emotional impact of pain.
Quality of Life (SF-36 quality of life questionnaire)	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	The SF-36 quality of life questionnaire assesses 8 domains including physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role-emotional, and mental health.
Quality of Sleep (Pittsburgh Quality of Sleep Questionnaire Index)	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	The Pittsburgh Quality of Sleep Questionnaire Index (PSQI) will be used to study the quality of sleep. It comprises 24 items where the subjects respond to 19 of these items, and individual living in the same dwelling (or hospital room) responds to the remaining 5. Scores are obtained on each of 7 components of sleep quality: subjective quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficacy, sleep perturbations, use of hypnotic medication, and daily dysfunction.
Tampa scale for kinesiophobia	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	The 17-item Tampa scale for kinesiophobia assesses fear of movement or of injury or reinjury.
Pain Catastrophizing Scale	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) is a self-assessment questionnaire to examine catastrophizing in clinical and nonclinical populations. Catastrophizing is commonly described as an exaggerated negative orientation toward noxious stimuli and plays an important role in experiencing and coping with pain. The PCS consists of 13 statements containing a number of thoughts and feelings one may experience when having pain. The items are divided into the categories of rumination, magnification and helplessness, with each item scored on a 5-point scale.
Active and Latent Myofascial Trigger Points (Number of trigger Points)	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	Myofascial Trigger Points will be explored in the following pairs of muscles: occipitofrontalis, splenius capitis, sternocleidomastoid, anterior scalene, middle scalene, posterior scalene, upper trapezius, middle trapezius, lower trapezius, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and multifidus level C6.
Cervical Range of Motion (Pro Motion Capture. Werium)	At baseline, at 6 weeks and at 2 months	Cervical range of motion is assessed with the patient sitting comfortably on a chair, with both feet flat on the floor, hips and knees at 90º of flexion, and buttocks positioned against the back of the chair.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Adelaida María Castro Sánchez; 🇪🇸 Almería, Almeria, Spain