Effects of dry needling technique into trigger points of the sternocleidomastoid muscle in migraine headache: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective The study aimed to investigate the effect of dry needling (DN) into trigger points of the sternocleidomastoid muscle in migraine headache patients. Design Forty subjects with a migraine headache, originating from myofacial trigger points into the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle (20 subjects in DN group and 20 subjects in control group) volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects in the treatment group received three sessions of dry needling in the myofascial trigger point region. Headache frequency, headache intensity, headache duration, drug consumption, muscle thickness, pressure pain threshold (PPT), and cervical range of motion were assessed before, immediately after intervention, and at one-month follow-up period. Also, this article was extracted from Iranian Register of Clinical Trials number IRCT20171219037956N1. Results The experimental group showed significant reduction in the headache parameters immediately after the intervention and at one month's follow-up, as compared to the control group. The PPT of SCM muscle, cervical range of motion, and muscle thickness significantly increased in the DN group in comparison to the control group (p Conclusion The application of dry needling technique caused an improvement in symptoms of migraine patients. Therefore, this technique may be prescribed for treating migraine patients with myofacial trigger points in the sternocleidomastoid muscle.