Does Dry Needling Affect Treatment Outcomes of Interlaminar Epidural Steroid Injection in Cervical Disc Herniation?

Plain-language summary

Chronic neck pain is among the most frequently seen chronic painful conditions. As an important cause of disability, chronic neck pain is a musculoskeletal disorder that negatively affects quality of life. Cervical disc herniation is one of the leading causes of chronic neck pain and conservative methods such as exercise and pain medications are used first in the treatment. In patients unresponsive to conservative treatment, epidural steroid injection is successfully and frequently used treatment option. Epidural steroid injection in the cervical region can be applied with two approaches: interlaminar or transforaminal. Myofascial trigger point characterized by intramuscular taut band and hypersensitive spots is a condition in which central and peripheral sensitization play a role in the pathophysiology. There are underlying myofascial trigger points in many etiologies that cause chronic neck pain. Trigger points can increase the severity of pain and in some cases they can be the main factor in the etiology of pain. Therefore, the presence of myofascial trigger points should be investigated, even if another cause is detected in chronic neck pain. Dry needling is an easily applicable and effective treatment option in myofascial trigger point. Although it is well known that myofascial trigger points frequently accompany cervical disc herniation, their effect on treatment outcomes has not been investigated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of dry needling for trigger points on the treatment results of interlaminar epidural steroid injection in patients diagnosed with cervical disc herniation.

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