The Influence of Verbal Suggestion on Post-Needling Soreness and Pain Processing after Dry Needling Treatment: An Experimental Study

Eleuterio A. Sánchez Romero, Tifanny Lim, Jorge Hugo Villafañe, Gurvan Boutin, Victor Riquelme Aguado, Aitor Martin Pintado-Zugasti, José Luis Alonso Pérez and Josué Fernández Carnero
Additional contact information
Eleuterio A. Sánchez Romero: Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Tifanny Lim: Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Jorge Hugo Villafañe: IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, 20141 Milan, Italy
Gurvan Boutin: Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Victor Riquelme Aguado: Department of Basic Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28922 Madrid, Spain
Aitor Martin Pintado-Zugasti: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, CEU-San Pablo University, 28040 Madrid, Spain
José Luis Alonso Pérez: Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Josué Fernández Carnero: Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: Background: It remains unclear as to whether verbal suggestions and expectancies can influence the perception of post-needling soreness. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of verbal suggestions on post-needling soreness after dry needling of the trapezius muscle. Methods: This study is a randomized controlled trial including healthy subjects randomly assigned to one of three groups receiving different verbal suggestions about the effects of dry needling and the occurrence of post needling soreness (positive, negative, or neutral). Then, dry needling on a latent trigger point of the upper trapezius muscle was performed and the following outcomes were measured immediately after, 24, 48, and 72 h, and one week after the intervention: post-needling soreness intensity, pressure pain threshold (PPT), temporal summation (TS) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM). Results: Seventy-three consecutive participants were screened and 42 participants (12 men and 30 women, aged: 24 ± 8 years old) were eligible and finished the study protocol. The results showed that verbal suggestion did not influence the perception of post-needling soreness, since there were no differences between groups ( p < 0.05) on the intensity of post-needling soreness or tenderness over a one-week follow-up. Moreover, verbal suggestion did not associate with changes in sensorimotor variables of TS and CPM. Conclusions: The induction of different types of expectations through verbal suggestion does not influence the perception of acute pain perceived during the performance of a deep dry needling technique and post-needling pain or soreness after deep dry needling on a latent upper trapezius myofascial trigger point (MTrP).

Keywords: dry needling; pain; trigger points; psychological factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4206/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4206/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:4206-:d:536936

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().