UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTIONS OF DRY NEEDLING IN NCAA

UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEPTIONS OF DRY NEEDLING IN NCAA DIVISION I ATHLETES SHEMEIKA MCCRAY & JONI BOYD, PH. D. WINTHROP UNIVERSITY MCNAIR SCHOLAR

WHAT IS DRY NEEDLING? Procedure that used an acupuncture needle, which is inserted into the skin and muscle to inactive myofascial trigger points (Tr. Ps) (Dommerholt, 2004; Dommerhold, Moral, Grobli, 2010). Used by many specialists Dry needling vs. Acupuncture Photo from: http: //www. rockymountainspineandsport. com/dryneedling

WHAT ARE TRPS (MYOFASCIAL TRIGGER POINTS)? Hyperirritable areas that have sensitive tightness in a muscle that restrict range of motion and affect muscle activation (Dembowski, Westrick, Zylstra & Johnson, 2013). Tr. Ps can affect a person’s quality of life and cause pain; or cause disability to that certain part of the body (Cummings & Baldry, 2007). Photo from: http: //www. elkhartmassage. com/trigger-pointtherapy. html

PROBLEM It focuses on perceptions of dry needling rather than experimental research to examine the effectiveness of dry needling. One study examined Elite Soccer players, while my study examined multiple sports (Haser, Stöggl, Kriner, Mikoleit, Wolfahrt, Scheer, Halle, & Pfab, 2016).

BACKGROUND Oxygen saturation and blood flow was increased after dry needling (Cagnie, Barbe, De Ridder, Van Oosterwijck, Cools & Danneels, 2012). In Elite Soccer players, dry needling along with water pressure massage significantly impacted hip flexion range of motion, muscular endurance over a four-week period after treatment (Haser et al. , 2016). Photo from: https: //www. rdhmag. com/articles/print/volu me-29/issue-7/feature/trapezius- Photo from: http: //slideplayer. com/slide/418441 2/

BACKGROUND Muscle soreness was a negative outcome of dry needling, but significantly impacted pain intensity and pain pressure threshold after two days (Ziaeifar, Arab & Nourbakhsh, 2016). Dry needling has also significantly impacted headaches, muscle elasticity and stiffness (Sedighi, Ansari & Naghdi, 2017; De Meulemeester, Castelein, Barbe, Cools & Cagnie, 2017).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are NCAA Division I Athletes’ perceptions of being exposed to dry needling? What are NCAA Division I Athletes’ perceptions of not being exposed to dry needling?

METHODS 15 -item quantitative non-experimental survey via Internet Exploratory research design that focused on frequencies and descriptive statistics. Participants were NCAA Division I Athletes, who all attended a university in Southeastern U. S. Inclusionary/ Exclusionary

DEMOGRAPHICS 77 Student-Athletes Females (72%) and Males (28%) 18 -24 years of age (M=20; SD=1. 26) Multiple Sports: Basketball, Volleyball, Softball, Baseball, Tennis, Lacrosse and Track & Field/Cross-Country

RESULTS Exposed to Dry Needling Non-Exposed to Dry Needling 34% exposed (26 athletes) 66% not exposed (51 athletes) 13 reported dry needling in the shoulder/arm region 12% never heard of dry needling (6 athletes) 5 reported dry needling in the torso (front/back) region 88% did hear of dry needling (45 athletes) 13 reported dry needling in the lower body (legs) region Total Athletes: 77

Perceptions of Exposure to Dry Needling N=26 [VALUE]% Agree 52% Disagree 50% Percentages [VALUE]% 17% 4% 4% 0% Dry needling is comfortable. Dry needling was I would use dry needling effective for muscle pain again for recovery. management. I would recommend others to use dry needling.

Perceptions of Non-Exposure to Dry Needling 48% N=51 Agree [VALUE]% Percentages Disagree 31% [VALUE]% 22% [VALUE]% 13% 2% Concerned with pain, Not sure it will work for bruising or soreness. recovery. Rather use other treatments. 2% Advised not to use dry My cultural beliefs are needling by a medical counter dry needling professional. process.

DISCUSSION Athletes have experienced significant differences after using dry needling, such as less pain, a greater range of motion and less tightness within that certain area (Legge, 2014; Sedighi et al. , 2017). Non-exposed athletes would rather use ultrasound, e-stim, massage, ice therapy or other recovery treatments.

FUTURE RESEARCH Focus more on athletes who were not exposed to dry needling. Educate athletes on the effectiveness of dry needling as a recovery treatment. Use athletes to persuade teammates to use dry needling. Use other NCAA Division Athletes.

MAIN POINTS 1 2 3 4 Dry Needling vs. Effective for athletic performance Increases quality of life & range of motion Decreases Tr. Ps, pain, & stiffness Non-exposed athletes rather use other treatments Acupuncture

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S Ronald E. Mc. Nair Joni Boyd, Ph. D. Cheryl Fortner-Wood, Ph. D. Winthrop University Mc. Nair Cohorts

SELECTED REFERENCES Cagnie, B. , Barbe, T. , De Ridder, E. , Van Oosterwijck, J. , Cools, A. , & Danneels, L. (2012). The influence of dry needling of the trapezius muscle on muscle blood flow and oxygenation. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics, 35(9), 685 -691. Cummings, M. , & Baldry, P. (2007). Regional myofascial pain: Diagnosis and management. Best Practice and Research Clinical Rheumatology, 21, 367 -387. Dembowski, S. C. , Westrick, R. B. , Zylstra, E. , & Johnson, M. R. (2013). Treatment of hamstring strain in a collegiate pole-vaulter integrating dry needling with an eccentric training program: A resident’s case report. The International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 8, 328 -339. De Meulemeester, K. E. , Castelein, B. , Coppieters, I. , Barbe, T. , Cools, A. , & Cagnie, B. (2017). Comparing trigger point dry needling and manual pressure technique for management of myofascial neck/shoulder pain: A randomized clinical trial. The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 40, 11 -20. Dommerholt, J. (2004). Dry needling in orthopedic physical therapy practice. Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice, 16, 15 -20. Dommerholt, J. , & del Moral O. M. , (2010). Myofascial trigger points: Pathophysiology and evidence-informed diagnosis and management. Sudbary, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Haser, C. , Stöggl, T. , Kriner, M. , Mikoleit, J. , Wolfahrt, B. , Scherr, J. , . . . & Pfab, F. (2017). Effect of dry needling on thigh muscle strength and hip flexion in elite soccer players. Medicine & Science in Sports Exercise, 49(2), 378 -383. Legge, D. (2014). A history of dry needling. Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain, 22, 301 -307. Sedighi, A. , Ansari, N. N. , & Naghdi, S. (2017). Comparison of acute effects of superficial and deep dry needling into trigger points of suboccipital and upper trapezius muscles in patients with cervicogenic headache. Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies, 21, 810 -814. Ziaeifar, M. , Arab, A. M. , Nourbakhsh, M. R. (2016). Clinical effectiveness of dry needling immediately after application on myofascial trigger point in upper trapezius muscle. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, 15, 252 -258.

Questions? mccrays 6@winthrop. edu