2017/10/01 by Emilio J. Puentedura, Sarah J. Buckingham, Daniella Morton +3
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation #Myofascial pain diagnosis and treatment #Pain Management and Treatment
paper · doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2017.06.013
openalex publication_date 2017/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in resting and/or contraction thickness of the transversus abdominis (TrA) muscle after dry needling (DN) of the lumbar multifidus (LM) in asymptomatic participants. METHODS: A randomized controlled laboratory trial with crossover design was performed. Forty-seven healthy individuals who had not experienced low back pain in the previous 6 months were randomly assigned to receive DN to the LM or a sham-DN intervention. Participants received both interventions separated at least 7 days apart. They were instructed on how to perform a concentric contraction of TrA. Resting and contraction thicknesses of the TrA were obtained through real-time ultrasound measurements before and immediately after each intervention by an assessor blinded to the intervention received. Data from 4 individuals had to be excluded because of poor image quality. RESULTS: = 11.489; P = .002). Simple main effects using paired-samples t tests and a Bonferroni post hoc analysis revealed differences in contracted states of the TrA for DN vs sham-DN (P = .009) and between contracted and resting states for the DN group (P = .001): after DN, TrA thickness at rest exhibited a mean decrease of 0.03 cm and a mean increase of 0.05 cm during contraction. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that application of DN to LM was accompanied by a decreased resting thickness and an increased contraction thickness of the TrA in asymptomatic participants.