Dry Needling Alone or in Combination with Exercise Therapy versus Other Interventions for Reducing Pain and Disability in Subacromial Pain Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Gonzalo Para-García, Ana María García-Muñoz, José Francisco López-Gil, Juan Diego Ruiz-Cárdenas, Ana Isabel García-Guillén, Francisco Javier López-Román, Silvia Pérez-Piñero, María Salud Abellán-Ruiz, Fernando Cánovas and Desirée Victoria-Montesinos ()
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Gonzalo Para-García: Physiotherapy Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Católica de Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Ana María García-Muñoz: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain
José Francisco López-Gil: Health and Social Research Center, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), 16002 Cuenca, Spain
Juan Diego Ruiz-Cárdenas: ECOFISTEM Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Catholic University of Murcia, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Ana Isabel García-Guillén: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Francisco Javier López-Román: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Silvia Pérez-Piñero: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain
María Salud Abellán-Ruiz: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Fernando Cánovas: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain
Desirée Victoria-Montesinos: Health Sciences Department, Campus de los Jerónimos, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Carretera de Guadalupe s/n, 30107 Murcia, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-15

Abstract: This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effects of dry needling alone or in combination with exercise therapy for reducing pain and disability in people with subacromial pain syndrome. Systematic searches of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were performed in five different databases. A meta-analysis was carried out with the data obtained, and the risk of bias and quality of the studies was assessed using the Cochrane ROB 2.0 and GRADE tools. Finally, five RCTs ( n = 315) were included in the meta-analysis and qualitative analysis. Our results determine that dry needling alone or combined with exercise therapy showed improvements in pain in the short-term (5RCTs: SMD: −0.27; [−0.49, −0.05]; low-quality) and mid-term (4RCTs: SMD: −0.27; [−0.51, −0.04]; low-quality) compared to a range of interventions. However, no differences were shown for disability at short-term (3 RCTs: SMD: −0.97; [−2.04, 0.11]; very-low quality) and mid-term (3 RCTs: SMD: −0.85; [−1.74, 0.04]; very-low quality). Dry needling alone or in combination with exercise therapy may result in a slight reduction in pain in the short-term and mid-term. However, the evidence about the effect of this therapy on disability in the short- or mid-term is very uncertain compared to the range of interventions analyzed in this systematic review (Registration: INPLASY202260112).

Keywords: dry needling; shoulder impingement syndrome; exercise therapy; trigger points (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:17:p:10961-:d:904880

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