COMPARISON OF DRY NEEDLING AND DRY CUPPING THERAPY IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PATELLOFEMORAL PAIN SYNDROME: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL
Keywords:
Dry needling, pain measurement, Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, physical therapyAbstract
Purpose: To compare the effect of dry needling and dry cupping on severity of pain and functional ability in patients with Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS).
Method: This randomized clinical trial included 42 individuals aged 18–35 years with PFPS. They were randomly divided randomly into two equal groups. One group received dry needling (n = 21), while other received dry cupping (n = 21), with both groups also receiving the same conventional physiotherapy treatment for eight sessions over four weeks. The Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and the Kujala Anterior Knee Pain Scale were used to measure pain severity and functional ability at baseline, Week 4, and three month follow up. Groups were compared using independent t-tests and Mann-Whitney U test. Changes within each group were assessed using repeated measures ANOVA and Friedman tests, while mixed design ANOVA examined differences between groups over time. A p-value of 0.05 was considered significant.
Result: All 42 participants completed both follow-up assessments, and both groups had similar characteristics at baseline. The both groups improved significantly across all outcomes (p<0.001, but dry needling group showed greater improvement. After three months, the activity related NPRS with dry needling was lower at 2.62±0.71 compared with 3.69±0.90, with mean difference of 1.07 (p<0.001) and Kujala score was higher at 82.63±6.21 compared with 72.82±7.06, with mean difference of 9.81 (p<0.001). Resting pain was also significantly reduced in dry needling group at Week 4 and after three months (p<0.001). There was a significant interaction between group and time for all three outcomes (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Dry needling offers greater benefits than dry cupping for a longer period when combined with conventional physiotherapy for PFPS. However, dry cupping remains practical, non-invasive option for patients who prefer not to have needling treatment.
