Evaluation of acupuncture and electroacupuncture on the treatment of the upper trapezius myofascial pain - a double blinded randomized placebo controlled study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of acupuncture and electroacupuncture on the treatment of the upper trapezius myofascial pain and to investigate the relationship between body posture and head and neck pain of sixty volunteers aged between 18 and 40 years, BMI= 18 to 24 Kg/m2, regular menstrual cycle, presenting at least one trigger point at the upper trapezius and local or referred pain for at least six months. Subjects will be randomized in three groups: acupuncture (A), electroacupuncture (EL) and placebo (P). The volunteers and the examiner will be blinded to the groups. The acupuncture needles will be inserted at the acupoints VB20, VB21, F3, IG4 and in maximum two more "ashi" points in each muscle for A and EL groups. The P group is going to receive fake acupuncture "sham". Postural assessment will be performed by the SAPO and effectiveness of the treatments evaluated concerning the pain intensity by VAS, the pain pressure threshold by algometry, the cervical range of movement by fleximeter, the stress by the salivary cortisol levels, the quality of life by SF-36 questionnaire and miofascial tissue characteristics by ultrasound and ultrasound elastography images from the trigger points. Data will be analyzed for normality and symmetry with the level of significance ±= 0.05. (AU)