Abstract
The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate which therapeutic intervention is the most effective in the treatment of pain associated with trigger points (TrP), always with respect to a predetermined time horizon - the effect of intervention on immediate pain intensity and on pain change in the calculated median of the measurements. The electronic databases PubMED, MEDLINE, PEDro and Web of Science were used to search for studies in order to create this review.
Articles published in 2016-2021, whose authors used the therapeutic intervention to treat TrP pain in the adult population without age restrictions and without other problems / diseases, with the exception of diagnosed TrP in any part of the body, were included. The visual analogue pain scale (VAS) was the first tool to evaluate the effect of therapeutic intervention, used in a total of 17 studies.
The second assessment tool was the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS), which was used in 6 studies. The search included 23 articles that met the criteria for inclusion and were subsequently analysed.
A wide range of therapeutic interventions were used in the studies. The most significant immediate effect on pain reduction according to VAS was observed in standard physical therapy or its combination with other techniques (it accounted for 50% of a total of 18 improved research groups).
When evaluating pain intensity according to NPRS, it was found that the most effective intervention to reduce pain immediately is the application of a dry needle (57 % of 7 improved research groups).