The study will establish data on the function of trunk muscles in healthy and low back pain patient's pre and post dry needling treatment. This will help in understanding the underlying mechanism of this treatment and reveal the effect of dry needling on muscle performance. Study hypothesis is that an improvement of back muscle function following dry needling procedure will be found.
Dry needling of muscles is mainly used for the management of pain in musculoskeletal disorders. Yet, the association between dry needling and motor performance of muscles is still unclear. This study aims to investigate the immediate effect of dry needling on lumbar multifidus muscles' function in healthy and low back pain subjects. The sample will be divided into: low back pain group and control (healthy) group. Both groups will receive dry needling to the lumbar multifidus muscles using a deep insertion technique with 4 needles (2 on each side of the spine). The needles will be left in situ for 10 minutes. Ultrasound imaging will be used to measure multifidus muscles' thickness, pre and post- procedure during rest in a prone position and during contralateral active straight leg extension.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
40
Dry needling uses traditional acupuncture needles without injecting any liquid. Dry needling is based on traditional Western medicine whereby the needle insertion sites are located in known anatomical landmarks such as skeletal muscles, fascia and occasionally joints, tendons and bone/tendon junctions.
University of Haifa
Haifa, Israel
Change in Multifidus muscle thickness
Multifidus muscle thickness will be measured using diagnostic ultrasound imaging
Time frame: baseline and Immediately after dry needling procedure at the same session
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