Comparison of Dry Needling versus Orthopedic Manual Therapy in Patients with Myofascial Chronic Neck Pain: A Single-Blind, Randomized Pilot Study

Table 4

Nonparametric tests of outcome data of pressure pain thresholds.

Variable	Groups	Median (interquartile range)  Pressure pain thresholds (PPT)				Friedman; ANOVA	Wilcoxon; (a) Base versus post 1; (b) Base versus post 2; (c) Base versus follow-up
		Baseline	Post; 1	Post; 2	Follow-; up
C5-C6	DN-S	2.34 (1.16–3.29)	2.42 (1.26–3.39)	2.88 (1.28–3.65)	2.09 (1.45–3.63)	0.545	(a) 0.721; (b) 0.182; (c) 0.695
	STT	2.19 (1.31–3.08)	1.74 (0.88–2.14)	1.57 (1.21–2.55)	2.25 (1.64–2.45)	0.058	(a) 0.239; (b) 0.480; (c) 0.638
	OMT	1.94 (1.44–2.19)	3.05 (2.16–4.37)	3.60 (2.59–3.74)	3.11 (2.81–3.92)	0.001	(a) 0.006; (b) 0.003; (c) 0.002
	K-W	0.612	0.008	0.019	0.011
	Mann-Whitney test
	DN-S versus STT; DN-S versus OMT; STT versus OMT	0.729; 0.354; 0.487	0.073; 0.224; 0.002	0.166; 0.325; 0.003	0.908; 0.043; 0.002
Trapezius	DN-S	3.13 (1.42–4.45)	3.20 (1.80–4.09)	3.52 (1.30–4.31)	2.85 (1.50–5.23)	0.682	(a) 0.937; (b) 0.638; (c) 0.239
	STT	2.19 (1.72–3.03)	1.84 (0.94–2.51)	1.78 (1.33–2.83)	2.49 (1.64–3.50)	0.117	(a) 0.530; (b) 0.814; (c) 0.583
	OMT	3.15 (1.62–3.24)	3.24 (2.95–4.28)	3.65 (3.21–3.68)	4.06 (3.75–4.38)	0.001	(a) 0.005; (b) 0.003; (c) 0.005
	K-W	0.453	0.008	0.072	0.012
	Mann-Whitney test
	DN-S versus STT; DN-S versus OMT; STT versus OMT	0.355; 0.524; 0.247	0.050; 0.297; 0.002	0.326; 0.885; 0.005	0.488; 0.057; 0.003

DN-S = dry needling + stretching, STT = soft tissue techniques, and OMT = orthopedic manual therapy.
K-W = Kruskal-Wallis test.