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CLINICAL TRIAL article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1524496
This article is part of the Research Topic Oro-facial Pain: Pathophysiology, Molecular Mechanisms, Diagnostic Innovations (or innovations in diagnosis) and Multidisciplinary Management View all articles

EFFECT OF DRY NEEDLING, ISCHEMIC COMPRESSION AND CROSS-TAPING OF THE MASSETER IN PATIENTS WITH OROFACIAL MYOFASCIAL PAIN: A RANDOMIZED COMPARATIVE STUDY

Provisionally accepted
Bruno Macedo de Sousa Bruno Macedo de Sousa 1Nansi López-Valverde Nansi López-Valverde 2*Antonio López-Valverde Antonio López-Valverde 2David Neves David Neves 1Santos Margarida Santos Margarida 1José Antonio Blanco Rueda José Antonio Blanco Rueda 2
  • 1 University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
  • 2 University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background and objective: Temporomandibular disorders, of multifactorial etiology, refer to a series of pathologies that affect the temporomandibular joint and the associated musculature of the orofacial region and are the result of alterations in the physiological relationships of the stomatognathic system, responsible for functions such as chewing, phonation and swallowing. They produce, among other symptoms, mainly pain, which affects the quality of life of the patients who suffer from them. To alleviate the discomfort of neuromuscular pathology in the orofacial region, various therapeutic strategies are employed, ranging from non-invasive to more invasive methods. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of three therapeutic methods (dry needling, ischemic compression and cross-taping) in reducing or relieving masseter pain in individuals with orofacial myofascial pain. Materials and methods: A multicenter randomized comparative clinical trial was conducted in 60 subjects over 18 years of age, divided into three groups: dry needling, ischemic compression and crosstaping. Registration ClinicalTrials.gov: ID NCT0660604. Pain intensity was assessed, randomly, by a single blinded evaluator, according to the Numerical Pain Rating Scale in the pre-treatment period, immediately after, 1-2 weeks and one month later. Results: Immediately after applying the therapies, there was a greater decrease in pain intensity in dry needling, followed by ischemic compression and a smaller decrease in the cross-taping technique (p < 0.0001; p = 0.0001; p = 0.0014, respectively). After 1-2 weeks, there was a noticeable increase in the dry needling technique, however, there was a decrease in pain in the cross-taping technique. After 1 month of application, both dry needling and ischemic compression showed a slight reduction in pain intensity, in contrast to the cross-taping group, which showed an increase in pain intensity. Conclusions: Dry needling and ischemic compression were more effective than cross-taping for immediate reduction of orofacial myofascial pain. Further shortand long-term research is needed to confirm these findings.

    Keywords: Orofacial myofascial pain1, dry needling2, ischemic compression3, cross-taping4, masseter5

    Received: 07 Nov 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Macedo de Sousa, López-Valverde, López-Valverde, Neves, Margarida and Rueda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nansi López-Valverde, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

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