Purpose: Chronic neck myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common disorder in clinics which impacts patients on physiological and psychologic aspects. No gold standard method is suggested and acupuncture is often used to treat patients with pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture on patients with chronic neck myofascial pain syndrome.
Method: We investigated the effects of acupuncture on patients with chronic neck MPS by means of a single-blind randomized controlled trial. Thirty-five patients were randomly allocated to an acupuncture group or a sham acupuncture group. Each subject received acupuncture treatment two times per week for 3 consecutive weeks. The primary outcome measure was quality of life as assessed with the Medical Outcomes 36-Item Short Form Health Survey, and secondary outcome measures were neck range of motion, and results of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, as determined by a blinded investigator. The clinical assessments were made before treatment (BT) and after six acupuncture treatments (AT), as well as at 4 weeks (F1) and 12 weeks (F2) after the end of treatment. Total 34 patients completed the trial.
Results: The results indicated that both groups had increased ROM scores and decreased VAS and SF-MPQ scores (P < 0.05) at AT, and there were no significant differences in these measures between the two groups at F1 and F2; at F2, patients in the acupuncture group showed greater improvements on the physical functioning and role emotional subscales for quality of life than did patients in the sham acupuncture group (P = 0.013 and P = 0.049, respectively).
Conclusions: We conclude that acupuncture may be used for pain relief in patients with chronic neck MPS, and acupuncture stimulation with achievement of qi is more effective in improving quality of life.
