Validity of a Sham Dry Needling Technique on a Healthy Population.
Daniel M Cushman, Anna Holman, Lee Skinner and 3 others
PMID 33604134WHAT IT FOUND
A fixed needle in a tube is a good placebo for people new to dry needling.
Most could not tell if they got real or fake needling. However, those who had received dry needling before often guessed correctly, so this sham fails in experienced patients.
Key findings
01Only one dry-needling-naïve subject correctly identified that they received the sham treatment, and only one correctly identified the real treatment.
02Subjects with prior dry needling experience were significantly more likely to correctly identify their group compared to those without experience.
03The sham procedure involved tapping a blunted, glued-in needle against the skin for thirty seconds per site, mimicking the sensation of the introducer tube without penetration.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study had a small number of participants, particularly in the subgroup with prior dry needling experience (n=16). Practitioners could not be blinded to the intervention, which introduces potential bias in how they performed the procedure or interacted with patients. The participants were exclusively endurance runners, so results may not generalize to other patient populations with different pain profiles or tissue characteristics. The sham technique may not work for practitioners who use electrical stimulation or other needle-based modalities, as the fixed needle cannot conduct current.
Declared interests
There are no conflicts of interest declared, and the study received no specific grant funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this sham technique is effective for all patients. It works well for those naïve to dry needling, but patients who have had dry needling before can often tell the difference, likely because they miss the specific sensation of needle penetration and the local twitch response.