Fu's Subcutaneous Needling on the Myofascial Trigger Points: Lateral Epicondylitis

Lateral Epicondylitis Clinical Trial

Official title: Changes in the Muscle Tone of Affected Muscle After Fu's Subcutaneous Needling on the Myofascial Trigger Points - a Sample of Lateral Epicondylitis

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Lateral epicondylitis, also called tennis elbow, is the most common disease in elbow-pain symptoms. The symptoms can have a major impact on the patient's activity of daily life, including turning a doorknob, lifting a full coffee cup to mouth, or wringing out a dish rag.

This is a randomized study, the investigators will evaluate the immediate, short-term, and long-term effect of Fu's subcutaneous needling on the patients suffering with lateral epicondylitis.

Clinical Trial Description

Lateral epicondylitis, also called tennis elbow, is the most common disease in elbow-pain symptoms. The major mechanism is overuse of the flexors, extensors and supination muscles in the wrist, causing micro-trauma in the muscles attachment to the lateral epicondyle of the elbow. The long-term accumulated and poor repaired trauma causes myofascial trigger points in the related muscles. Patients often describe pain at the lateral aspect of the elbow. Pain can be further elicited with passive wrist flexion and by resisting active wrist extension. Symptoms also include weakness in the grip strength and limitation of elbow motion. Therefore, it can have a major impact on the patient's activity of daily life, including turning a doorknob, lifting a full coffee cup to mouth, or wringing out a dish rag.

Fu's subcutaneous needling (FSN), as one of the dry needle treatments, performed by swaying a disposable Fu's subcutaneous needle parallel to the underlying muscles after penetrating the skin to the subcutaneous fascia. With the reperfusion activities, myofascial pain and soft tissue pain caused by myofascial trigger points can be decreased effective simultaneously. So far, there is no solid research or clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment yet.

The investigators will conduct the randomized experiment to evaluate the immediate, short-term, and long-term effect of FSN. The outcome measures include visual analog scale, patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation questionnaire, pressure pain threshold, pain-free grip test, muscle tone changes and ultrasonographic evaluaton of the common extensor tendon. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Lateral Epicondylitis
• Tennis Elbow

• NCT number: NCT03605563
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: China Medical University Hospital
• Contact: Li-Wei HuangChou, PhD
• Phone: +886-4-22052121
• Email: chouliwe@mail.cmuh.org.tw
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: May 1, 2018
• Completion date: April 28, 2019