Riassunto dello studio

Forty-six patients with postoperative shoulder pain following rotator cuff repair (RCR) surgery and active MTrPs were randomized to receive either MTrP-DN plus multimodal rehabilitation (n=23) or sham dry needling (S-DN) plus multimodal rehabilitation (n=23). The primary outcome was the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) for shoulder pain, while secondary outcomes included the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI), shoulder ROM, and strength measures. These outcomes were assessed at baseline and after 4 weeks of intervention. Overall, the study found no statistically significant differences between the groups for the primary or secondary outcomes. Within-group improvements were observed in both groups, but the effect size of adding MTrP-DN was small. The main findings suggest that adding MTrP-DN to a standard rehabilitation program does not result in significant improvements in postoperative shoulder pain or functional outcomes compared to sham needling.