Efficacy of Capacitive-Resistive Therapy on the Treatment of Myofascial Pain

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Myofascial Pain Syndrome of Neck

Interventions: Device: Capacitive-Resistive Therapy

Registration Number: NCT04287517

Lead Sponsor: Istanbul University

Brief Summary: Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a painful musculoskeletal condition affecting the individuals' daily life presenting with muscle spasm, referred pain patterns, stiffness, restricted range of motion caused by trigger points. Capacitive-resistive diathermy therapy heats deep tissues by transferring energy through radiofrequency waves. Currently, although this modality is used to treat various acute or chronic musculoskeletal disorders, there is no specific data about myofascial trigger points in the literature. The investigators aimed to evaluate the efficacy of capacitive-resistive diathermy on the myofascial trigger point of neck/upper trapezius muscle area compared with the sham intervention of capacitive-resistive diathermy.

Volunteers with active myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius and neck were included the study after being examined by sports medicine specialists. Exclusion criteria were fibromyalgia, discal hernia, radiculopathy, myelopathy, having received trigger point injection and physical therapy within the last 1 month, neck or back surgery, rheumatismal diseases, pregnancy. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups. Group 1 will be treated with capacitive resistive diathermy and exercise. Group 2 will be treated with placebo (sham) capacitive-resistive diathermy and exercise for 10 sessions at intervals of 24-48 hours. Visual analog scale (VAS), neck disability index (NDI) score, cervical range of motion (cROM), active trigger point numbers will be evaluated before and after treatment. The study was designed as a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trial. The study was approved by the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee. All participants were informed of the study and signed written informed consent.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 40

Inclusion Criteria

Volunteers
Active myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius and neck

Exclusion Criteria

Fibromyalgia
Discal Hernia
Radiculopathy, Myelopathy
Having received trigger point injection and physical therapy within the last 1 month
Neck or Back surgery
Rheumatismal diseases
Pregnancy

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Capacitive-Resistive Therapy Group	Capacitive-Resistive Therapy	This group was treated with capacitive resistive diathermy and exercise
Sham Group	Capacitive-Resistive Therapy	This group was treated with sham capacitive-resistive diathermy and exercise

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Visual Analog Scale (VAS) Score Change	baseline, pre-intervention and 24 hours after the last intervention	The VAS is a tool used to help a person rate the intensity of certain sensations and feelings. This Outcome Measure will assess pain. This VAS is a straight horizontal line of fixed length from 0 to 10 cm with 0 cm indicating no pain and 10 cm indicating the worst pain imaginable.
Pain Pressure Threshold (PPT) Score Change	baseline, pre-intervention and 24 hours after the last intervention	PPT is defined as the minimum force applied which induces pain. This measure has proven to be commonly useful in evaluating tenderness symptom. Higher scores mean better outcome.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Neck Disability Index (NDI) Score Change	baseline, pre-intervention and 24 hours after the last intervention	The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is a self-report questionnaire used to determine how neck pain affects a patient's daily life and to assess the self-rated disability of patients with neck pain. Each question has six statement, the first statement is marked the section score = 0, if the last statement is marked it = 5. Maximum score is 50 and minimum is 0. Lower scores mean better outcome.
Cervical Range of Motion (cROM) Change	baseline, pre-intervention and 24 hours after the last intervention	The cervical spine's range of motion is approximately 80° to 90° of flexion, 70° of extension, 20° to 45° of lateral flexion, and up to 90° of rotation to both sides.
Short Form - 36 (SF-36) Score Change	baseline, pre-intervention and 24 hours after the last intervention	The Short Form (36) Health Survey is a 36-item, patient-reported survey of patient health. The SF-36 is a measure of health status and an abbreviated variant of it. The SF-36 consists of eight scaled scores, which are the weighted sums of the questions in their section. Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. The lower the score the more disability. The higher the score the less disability i.e., a score of zero is equivalent to maximum disability and a score of 100 is equivalent to no disability.