The Effects of Dry Needling on Patients With Knee Pain

Dry needling consists of small, monofilament needles that are administered directly into the tissue and manipulated to make the muscle relax for pain relief. This technique is used to treat dysfunctions in skeletal muscle and connective tissue to help diminish pain, reduce impairments of body structure and restore function. Dry needling will be performed in the gluteal or the quadriceps muscle groups depending upon group randomization.

The same overall procedures will be used as in the "true" dry needling groups and applied to the same muscle groups (gluteal or quadriceps) depending upon ground randomization. Sham dry needling will be performed using a commercially available sham needling system commonly.This set-up utilizes a blunt tipped needle. When the sham needle is pressed downward, the barrel of the needle retracts into the handle, giving the appearance of insertion of the needle through the skin. This also creates pressure on the subject's skin, increasing the sensation of dry needling. Patients will not be allowed to observe the areas being needled or sham needled.

Physical Therapy and exercise as determined by the examining clinician based on the patients specific impairments and functional limitations. All subjects enrolled in this study will receive an initial physical therapy (PT) evaluation and then 2 additional PT sessions a week a part. Interventions and prescribed home exercises will be specific to the patients' primary individual impairments as determined during the initial PT evaluation. These interventions reflect current evidence, but will not be restrictive to specific exercises; prescribed exercises will be deemed appropriate based on the treating PTs' examination, evaluation, and identification of each patients' primary deficits, impairments, functional limitations, and current literature.