Dry Needling in Patients Who Had Experience Stroke

Changes in Spasticity, Motor Function and Stabilometry After Dry Needling of the Tibialis Posterior Muscle in Post-stroke Patients

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02579291

Enrollment

Registered

2015-10-19

Start date

2015-10-31

Completion date

2016-05-31

Last updated

2016-05-12

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Stroke

Keywords

Stroke, Dry needling, Spasticity, Motor function, Stabilometry

Brief summary

Individuals who had experience a stroke usually suffer from spasticity at medium and long-terms. The presence of spasticity in the lower extremity implies several impairments for standing and walking inducing high disability. A recent study has proposed the use of dry needling for improving spasticity in the lower extremity. No study has investigated the effects of deep dry needling inserted into spastic musculature in stabilometry and moto function in patients who had experience a stroke. A randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of the inclusion of deep dry needling into a Bobath interventional program on spasticity, motor function and balance (stabilometry) in individuals who had experience a stroke

Interventions

OTHERDry needling

Once the most painful spot is located within a palpable spastic taut band, the overlying skin is cleaned with alcohol. The needle will be inserted, penetrating the skin about 15-20mm, until the first local twitch response is obtained. Once the first local twitch response is obtained, the needle will be moved up and down (4 to 5 mm. vertical motions with no rotation) in the muscle at approximately 1Hz for 25-30 seconds.

OTHERBobath

Patients will receive different neuromodulatory interventions based on the Bobath concept with the aim to decrease spasticity on the lower extremity

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

20 Years to 60 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* First-ever unilateral stroke; * hemiplegia resulting from stroke; * unilateral equinovarus gait with independent walk; * able to ambulate without supporting devices

Exclusion criteria

* recurrent stroke; * previous treatment with nerve blocks, motor point injections with neurolytic agents for spasticity at any time, or with BTX-A in the previous 6 months * not independent in the basic activities of daily living * cognitive deficits; * progressive or severe neurologic diseases; * fear to needles; * any contraindication for dry needling

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Changes in spasticity before and 10 minutes after the intervention	Baseline and immediate after the intervention	Spasticity in the affected ankle joint will be evaluated with the Modified Modified Ashworth Scale (MMAS). The examiner passively will move the ankle in dorsal-flexion direction, back and forth at least 5 times and will evaluate the degree of resistance to the movement on a scale from 0-4.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Changes in motor function before and 10 minutes after the intervention	Baseline and immediate after the intervention	The Fugl-Meyer evaluation will be used to determine motor impairments and physical recovery of patients who had experienced a stroke
Changes in stabilometry outcomes before and 10 minutes after the intervention	Baseline and immediate after the intervention	The time reaction will be assessed as stabilometric data from each patient.

Countries

Spain

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 23, 2026