Article

The short-term effects of acupuncture on myofascial pain patients after clenching.

Center for Orofacial Pain, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0768, USA.
Pain Practice (impact factor: 2.21). 10/2007; 7(3):256-64. DOI:10.1111/j.1533-2500.2007.00140.x pp.256-64
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Short-term pain reduction from acupuncture in chronic myofascial pain subjects was evaluated using an 11-point (0 to 10) numeric rating scale, visual analog scale (VAS), and pain rating of mechanical pressure on the masseter muscle.
A single-blind, randomized, controlled, clinical trial with an independent observer was performed. Fifteen chronic myofascial pain subjects over the age of 18 were randomly assigned into groups: nine subjects received real acupuncture; six subjects received sham acupuncture. Each subject clenched his/her teeth for 2 minutes. Acupuncture or sham acupuncture was administered at the Hegu Large Intestine 4 acupoint. Sham acupuncture was conducted by lightly pricking the skin with a shortened, blunted acupuncture needle through a foam pad, without penetrating the skin. The foam pad visually conceals the needle's point of the entry, so that the subject cannot discern which technique is being used. The subjects rated their general pain on a numeric rating scale. A mechanical pain stimulus was applied with an algometer and the subject rated his/her pain on a VAS. Statistical analysis was performed using the repeated measures anova, paired t-tests, and Fisher's exact test as appropriate.
There was a statistically significant difference in pain tolerance with acupuncture (P = 0.027). There was statistically significant reduction in face pain (P = 0.003), neck pain (P = 0.011), and headache (P = 0.015) with perception of real acupuncture.
Pain tolerance in the masticatory muscles increased significantly more with acupuncture than sham acupuncture.

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Keywords

2 minutes
 
chronic myofascial pain subjects
 
face pain
 
Fisher's exact test
 
general pain
 
his/her pain
 
masseter muscle
 
masticatory muscles
 
mechanical pain stimulus
 
mechanical pressure
 
neck pain
 
numeric rating scale
 
pain rating
 
paired t-tests
 
real acupuncture
 
Sham acupuncture
 
Short-term pain reduction
 
statistically significant difference
 
subject clenched his/her teeth
 
visual analog scale
 

Yoshi F Shen