HYPOTHESIS Plantar heel pain (plantar fasciitis) is a common and disabling condition. A variety of treatment options are available to patients with plantar heel, however the evidence for these treatments is generally weak and the best way to manage plantar heel pain remains unclear. Trigger point dry needling is increasingly used as an adjunct therapy for musculoskeletal pain. In patients with ...

Academically, we agree with the recent Education and Practice paper by Zhou et al, which states that, for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, dry needling and acupuncture overlap greatly in their origin, techniques and theories, and dry needling is one subcategory of Western medical acupuncture, and is thus acupuncture. As current training and clinical practice of acupuncturists involve...

Objectives: To investigate the clinical efficacy of physiotherapy with and without superficial dry needling on patients with knee pain; patellofemoral pain syndrome. Methods: A randomized clinical trial conducted in 2015, Tehran, Iran. Of patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome, thirty-four subjects were randomly divided into two groups (17 in each group). Group A was subject...

Objective. To obtain electrophysiological effects of Fu's subcutaneous needling (FSN) on needling distance by assessment of endplate noise (EPN) recorded from the myofascial trigger spots (MTrSs) in rabbit skeletal muscle. Method. Eighteen New Zealand rabbits weighing 2.5-3.0 kg were randomly divided into two groups as follows: proximal needling (PN) group and distal needling (DN) group. The ne...

As an intermediate state between normal aging and dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) became a hot topic and early treatments can improve disease prognosis. Acupuncture is shown to have possible effect in improving its cognitive defect. However, the underlying neural mechanism of acupuncture and relations between De Qi and different needling depths are still elusive. The present study aim...

Background: Spasticity is one of the most important symptoms of stroke, which leads to movement constraints and disability. The presence of spasticity in the ankle and toe plantar flexor muscles disturbs the balance and gait of patients with stroke. Dry needling has been introduced as a new method for the treatment of spasticity. The aim of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of...

INTRODUCTION While de qi, the acupuncture needling sensation, has been considered as an important component of acupuncture, little is known of the acupuncture patient's experience and beliefs about de qi in clinical settings. The aim of this study was to describe Chinese acupuncture patients' perceived sensations of, and beliefs about, acupuncture needling. METHODS We developed a questionnair...

Background and Purpose. Dry needling is an effective therapy for the treatment of pain associated with myofascial trigger point (MTrP). However, the biochemical effects of dry needling that are associated with pain, inflammation, and hypoxia are unclear. This study investigated the activities of β-endorphin, substance P, TNF-α, COX-2, HIF-1α, iNOS, and VEGF after different dosages of dry needli...

The aim of the present paper was to observe the effects of needling ST40 and PC6 on IL-17 of ApoE(-/-) mice with fatty liver. Forty male ApoE(-/-) mice were randomized into Needling-Acupoint Group, Simvastatin Intragastric Administration Group, Needling Nonacupoint Group, and Model Group. Each was fed with high fat diet for 8 weeks since 16 weeks of age; after 8 weeks of intervention, mice were...