Dry Needling and Low-level Laser Therapy to Treat Myofascial Pain

"It will be used acupuncture needles, individually packaged and sterilized, with 0.25 mm of thickness and 0.40 mm of length. The therapist will perform the grip in upper trapezius on the site of one of the two previously marked locations, according to the subject group allocation, and will insert the needle in the skin with help of a guide tube and will deepen the needle approximately 10 to 15 mm inside the trigger point. The needle will be moved up and down as in the fast-in and fast-out technique described by Hong and the movement will be repeated during 30 seconds in a cadence of approximately 1 Hz. The protocol will be the same for the groups that will receive the application directly on the trigger point and for the group that will receive the application away from the trigger point"

The laser protocol used the PainAway Laser™ cluster equipment composed of one pulsed infrared laser of 905 nm, four red LEDs of 640 nm, and four infrared LEDs of 875 nm, with full device aperture of 4 cm2, total delivered energy of 39,8 J, a magnetic field of 35 Mt and treatment time of 300 seconds. The equipment was turned on only for the DNP group and it remained in slight contact with the skin during 300 s for all groups.