Evaluation of chronic head and neck myofascial pain control with Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture in eight weeks follow-up period^*

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

Chronic pain is a common complaint in health assistance settings, so this study aimed at evaluating the analgesic efficacy of an acupuncture technique to relieve pain in patients with chronic head and neck myofascial pain.

METHODS:

Participated in the study 20 volunteers (aged between 23 and 46 years) with head and neck pain for more than 3 months who presented tense myofascial bands diagnosed by the evaluator. Pain intensity at the beginning of the study was recorded by the verbal numeric scale, as well as mean pain during each week among 8 applications. Acupuncture needle 0.25x30 mm was used on cranial points to the right or left side of the face, determined by Yamamoto’s ScalpAcupuncture technique and was maintained for 20 minutes.

RESULTS:

Mean pain at beginning of treatment was 7.9 and after 8 weeks it had decreased to 0.8, which is a significant result with p<0.05. Pain improvement evaluation at consultation moment was also relevant because 100% of participants have reported pain improvement immediately after needle application.

CONCLUSION:

Our results show the effectiveness of one of different possibilities provided by acupuncture for pain relief, especially when the aim is immediate pain decrease. Although promising, results of Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture still need further studies to evaluate this acupuncture modality to expand its application and reliability of the technique.

Keywords:
Acupuncture; Chronic pain; Headache; Myofascial pain syndromes; Neck pain