Effect of radialshock wave versus high power pain threshold ultrasound in treating myofascial trigger point in upper trapezius / Bassem Bassam Alsayed Mahmoud ; Supervised Haytham M. Elhafez , Mariam Omran Grase

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Basic Science

Background: One of the most misunderstood and underestimated sources of musculoskeletal pain is myofascial trigger points (TrP).Purpose: This current study is designed to investigate and compare the effects of extracorporeal shockwave and high-power pain threshold ultrasound in treating myofascial trigger points in upper trapezius. Materials and methods: This study conducted in clinic of the Egyptian Chinese University in Cairo. Sixty patients with upper trapezius trigger point participated in the study and each participant read and signed the consent form. Patients randomly divided into two equal groups Group (A) patients received high power pain threshold ultrasound while patients in group (B) received shockwave for 4 weeks. Visual analogue scale, algometry, cervical ROM and Arabic version of Neck Disability Index (NDI) were used for assessment before and after treatment.Results: In high power pain threshold ultrasound group, patients get improvements in VAS, algometric readings, right rotation ROM, right lateral bending ROM, and neck disability index. In shockwave group, patients get improvements in VAS, algometric readings, and neck disability index. When comparing both groups, high power pain threshold ultrasound group showed more improvement than shockwave in right rotation ROM (P=0.028) while shockwave group showed more improvement in NDI (P=0.031).Conclusion: extracorporeal shockwave and high power pain threshold ultrasound have similar effect in treating myofascial trigger points in upper trapezius but shockwave is more preferable when disability is the issue while ultrasound is the preferable when the ROM is the main concern

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