Periosteal Electrical Dry Needling as an Adjunct to Exercise and Manual Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Multi-Center Randomized Clinical Trial.

Clin J Pain. 2018 May 28;:

Authors: Dunning J, Butts R, Young I, Mourad F, Galante V, Bliton P, Tanner M, Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To compare the effects of adding electrical dry needling into a manual therapy and exercise program on pain, stiffness, function, and disability in individuals with painful knee osteoarthritis (OA).
METHODS: Two hundred and forty-two participants (n=242) with painful knee OA were randomized to receive 6 weeks of electrical dry needling, manual therapy and exercise (n=121) or manual therapy and exercise (n=121). The primary outcome was related-disability as assessed by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index at 3 months.
RESULTS: Individuals receiving the combination of electrical dry needling, manual therapy and exercise experienced significantly greater improvements in related-disability (WOMAC: F=35.504; P<0.001) than those receiving manual therapy and exercise alone at 6 weeks and 3 months. Patients receiving electrical dry needling were 1.7 times more likely to have completely stopped taking medication for their pain at 3 months than individuals receiving manual therapy and exercise (OR: 1.6; 95%CI: 1.24-2.01; P=0.001). Based on the cutoff score of +5 on the Global Rating of Change (GROC), significantly (X =14.887; P0.82) for all outcome measures in favor of the electrical dry needling group at 3 months.
DISCUSSION: The inclusion of electrical dry needling into a manual therapy and exercise program was more effective for improving pain, function and related-disability than the application of manual therapy and exercise alone in individuals with painful knee OA.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapy, Level 1b. Prospectively registered February 10, 2015 on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02373631)This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

PMID: 29864043 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]