Acupuncture and percutaneous electric nerve stimulation to control chronic masticatory myalgia: preliminary study^*

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

This was a randomized clinical trial to compare the analgesic effect of acupuncture and percutaneous electric nerve stimulation for chronic masseter muscle masticatory myalgia.

METHODS:

Participated in the study 23 patients with unilateral or bilateral masticatory myalgia, who were selected according to Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders and were distributed in two groups. Acupuncture and percutaneous electric nerve stimulation groups were made up of 12 and 11 patients, respectively. In each group, patients were submitted to two weekly treatment sessions lasting 20 minutes, in a total of 9 sessions. Selected points for the acupuncture group were IG4, E36, F3, ShemMen (bilateral auricular), VG20 and Yintang. Needles were inserted and stimulated until “De Qi” was obtained, then remaining without stimulation until procedure completion. In the electric stimulation group, symptomatic points were identified by manual palpation and electric stimulation was applied. Both groups have described pain intensity by means of the visual analog scale, before the first, fifth and ninth sessions. Results were evaluated with Student t and F (ANOVA) tests.

RESULTS:

There has been mean visual analog scale scores decrease in both groups at each measurement, being that in the last measurement the acupuncture group had statistically lower mean as compared to the percutaneous electric nerve stimulation group.

CONCLUSION:

Acupuncture and percutaneous electric nerve stimulation are effective methods to improve masseter muscle masticatory myalgia in the short term.

Keywords:
Acupuncture; Percutaneous electric nerve stimulation; Temporomandibular disorders