Peer-reviewed article
Adjunctive dry needling reduces spasticity and improves functional outcomes in children with cerebral palsy: a single-blind randomized controlled trial.
Alkhamees NH, Abdelraouf OR, Abdel Ghafar MA, Ibrahim ZM, Harraz EM et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study tested whether dry needling combined with traditional physical therapy could reduce spasticity and improve movement in children with cerebral palsy. Forty-eight children aged 6-12 years with spastic cerebral palsy were randomly assigned to receive either dry needling plus therapy or therapy alone for 12 weeks. The group receiving dry needling showed greater improvements in muscle stiffness, gross motor function, and mobility compared to the traditional therapy group, with one minor adverse event reported.
Key points
- Both groups improved significantly, but the dry needling group showed greater gains across all three outcome measures
- Spasticity reduction (Modified Ashworth Scale): dry needling group improved by 0.5 vs. 0.2 for traditional therapy alone
- Gross motor function (GMFM-88): dry needling group improved by 10.2 seconds vs. 5.9 seconds for traditional therapy
- Functional mobility (Timed Up and Go test): dry needling group improved by 4.2 seconds vs. 1.4 seconds for traditional therapy
- Dry needling was tolerable with only one small adverse event and no treatment discontinuations
Limitations
The study does not specify which country the research was conducted in, and the sample size of 48 children is relatively small. Long-term follow-up data beyond the 12-week intervention period are not reported.
Abstract
Background Spastic cerebral palsy is the most prevalent motor disability in childhood, and the alleviation of spasticity has been a primary rehabilitation objective with the view of improving the outcomes of functional recovery. Dry needling (DN) has demonstrated some efficacy in adult neurology, but controlled evidence is limited in children. This study tested the hypothesis that incorporating DN into traditional physical therapy is effective in improving spasticity, gross motor functions, and functional mobility in ambulant children with spastic cerebral palsy. Methods Forty-eight children with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, ages 6-12 years, were randomly allocated to either a DN group (DN plus traditional therapy) or a traditional rehabilitation (TR) group (traditional therapy alone). Interventions lasted 12 weeks. Outcome measures included the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88; dimensions D and E), and Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. Results MANOVA analyses showed that both groups significantly improved across all outcomes (p < 0.05). The DN group showed greater improvements in MAS (mean change: -0.5 vs. -0.2), GMFM-88 (mean change: +10.2 s vs. +5.9 s), and TUG (mean change: -4.2 s vs. -1.4 s). Spasticity, gross motor, and functional mobility outcomes favored the DN group (p = 0.02, p = 0.02, and p = 0.002). One small adverse event was observed with no treatment discontinuations. Conclusion Dry needling in combination with traditional physical therapy was associated with greater improvements in spasticity, motor function, and mobility than traditional therapy alone. DN was tolerable and could be a safe and effective additional intervention for ambulatory children with mild-to-moderate spastic cerebral palsy.Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT06856473.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Dry needling combined with traditional physical therapy
- Population
- 48 children aged 6-12 years with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy
Key finding
Spasticity reduction favored dry needling group (p = 0.02); mean change -0.5 vs. -0.2 on Modified Ashworth Scale