Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Versus Dry Needling in Non Specific Chronic Neck Pain

"The first experimental group will receive 20-minute sessions of TENS, where participants adjust the amplitude to achieve strong muscle twitching beneath the electrodes at an intensity below the pain threshold. Acupuncture-like TENS uses high-frequency pulsed currents at two trains per second with an internal pulse frequency of 100 pps. The pulse pattern is set to burst, with an asymmetrical biphasic waveform and a pulse duration of 200 µs. Minor fluctuations in pulse rate between 100 and 104 pps were noted using a cathode ray oscilloscope before the experiment."

The second experimental group will receive 20-minute sessions of dry needling. Patients will be positioned in a prone, relaxed position, and the overlying skin will be cleaned with alcohol. The muscle will be palpated to locate the trigger point (MTrP), with the muscle grasped between the thumb, index, and middle fingers. A solid filiform needle within a guide tube will be inserted into the MTrP using a tapping motion at an oblique angle. The upper trapezius muscle will be palpated for trigger points, with needle insertion depths ranging from 10-15mm. After obtaining a local twitch response, the needle will be moved vertically 3-5mm until no more twitch responses occur. This group will also receive 20 minutes of conventional physical therapy.

All participants in the three groups will receive conventional treatment in the form of hot pack treatment followed by active range of movement (AROM) exercises. A hot pack will be placed on the patients cervical, paraspinal, and upper thoracic areas (including the upper trapezius muscle with aMTrP) for 20 minutes. This will be followed by AROM exercise for cervical spine joints. Participants were asked to actively flex the neck so that the head dropped toward the contralateral trapezius muscles. Patients then rotated the head toward ipsilateral side. This exercise will be repeated five times.