Ultrasound-guided dry needling versus traditional dry needling for patients with knee osteoarthritis: A double-blind randomized controlled trial

• Published in: PloS one 2022-09, Vol.17 (9), p.e0274990-e0274990
• Main Authors: Pang, Johnson C. Y, Fu, Amy S. N, Lam, Stanley K. H, Peng, B, Fu, Allan C. L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Arthritis; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Cartilage; Chi-square test; Clinical trials; Diagnosis; Disease; Double-blind studies; Growth factors; Intervention; Knee; Laboratories; Ligaments; Medicine and Health Sciences; Osteoarthritis; Pain; Patients; Performance evaluation; Physical therapy; Placebos; Research and Analysis Methods; Rheumatology; Shoulder; Statistical analysis; Therapy; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; Variance analysis; X-rays
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274990

To compare the effect of ultrasound (US)-guided dry needling (DN) with traditional DN in the treatment of pain and dysfunction for patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). A double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Eighty-four participants (61.26±5.57 years) completed the study. G1 achieved significant improvement in VAS at 8 weeks compared to G2 and G3 (G1 vs. G2: MD = -15.61, 95% CI [-25.49, -5.51], p = 0.001; G1 vs. G3: MD = -19.90, 95% CI [-29.71, -10.08], p< 0.001). G1 achieved significant improvement in KOOS-pain at 8 weeks compared to G2 and G3 (G1 vs. G2: MD = 9.76, 95% CI [2.38, 17.14], p = 0.006; G1 vs. G3: MD = 9.48, 95% CI [2.31, 16.66], p = 0.010). KOOS-symptoms and KOOS-QoL were not statistically significant between groups. G2 had no significant difference of the perceptions as G1 with p = 0.128. G2 were successfully blinded to placebo US-guided DN. US-guided DN with exercise therapy may be more effective than traditional DN with exercise therapy or exercise therapy alone in reduce pain of KOA.