Neurophysiological and psychophysical effects of dry versus sham needling of the infraspinatus muscle in patients with chronic shoulder pain: a randomized feasibility study

Table 2 Neurophysiological and psychophysical outcomes

	Corticospinal excitability – Transcranial magnetic stimulation
	Within group								Between group
	DN group T₁ Mdn [IQR] = 49.90 [7.31] ^a				Sham DN group T₁ Mdn [IQR] = 50.17 [7.55] ^a				Between group
	Z	p-value	Mdn [IQR]	ES	Z	p-value	Mdn [IQR]	ES	U	p-value
T₁-T₂	−1.481	0.08	−2.61 [4.95] ^a	−0.49	−1.886	0.03*	−1.93 [1.11] ^a	− 0.60	45.0	0.52
T₁-T₃	−1.859	0.04*	−5.96 [5.17] ^a	−0.70	−0.968	0.19	−0.52 [2.07] ^a	− 0.31	24.0	0.16
	Pressure pain – Algometer
	Within group								Between group
	DN group T₁ Mdn [IQR] = 7.19 [3.39] ^b				Sham DN group T₁ Mdn [IQR] = 8.47 [2.64] ^b				Between group
	Z	p-value	Mdn [IQR]	ES	Z	p-value	Mdn [IQR]	ES	U	p-value
T₁-T₂	−0.051	0.50	−0.18 [0.31] ^b	−0.02	−2.223	0.01*	−0.44 [0.49] ^b	− 0.67	25.5	0.02*
T₁-T₃	−1.260	0.13	−0.62 [0.87] ^b	−0.45	−2.134	0.02*	−0.52 [1.02] ^b	− 0.64	34.0	0.22

^aResults are expressed as a percentage of the maximum stimulator output (%MSO); ^bResults are expressed in kg/cm2; *Statistically significant; T1: Baseline; T2: Immediately post-intervention; T3: 24 h post-intervention; Mdn: Median; IQR: Interquartile range; ES: Effect size expressed by r-value = Z/√N

ISSN: 2057-0082