doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.6698engPérez-Palomares, SaraOliván-Blázquez, BárbaraPérez-Palomares, AnaGaspar-Calvo, ElenaPérez-Benito, MarinaLópez-Lapeña, ElenaTorre Beldarraín, María Luisa de laMagallón-Botaya, RosaContribution of dry needling to individualized physical therapy treatment of shoulder pain: A randomized clinical trialART-2017-97900STUDY DESIGN: Multicenter, parallel randomized clinical trial. BACKGROUND: Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) are implicated in shoulder pain and functional limitations. An intervention intended to treat MTrPs is dry needling. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effectiveness of dry needling in addition to evidence-based personalized physical therapy treatment in the treatment of shoulder pain. METHODS: One hundred twenty patients with nonspecific shoulder pain were randomly allocated into 2 parallel groups: (1) personalized, evidencebased physical therapy treatment; and (2) trigger point dry needling in addition to personalized, evidence-based physical therapy treatment. Patients were assessed at baseline, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up. The primary outcome measure was pain assessed by a visual analog scale at 3 months, and secondary variables were joint range-of-motion limitations, Constant-Murley score for pain and function, and number of active MTrPs. Clinical efficacy was assessed using intention-to-treat analysis. RESULTS: Of the 120 enrolled patients, 63 were randomly assigned to the control group and 57 to the intervention group. There were no significant differences in outcome between the 2 treatment groups. Both groups showed improvement over time. CONCLUSION: Dry needling did not offer benefits in addition to personalized, evidencebased physical therapy treatment for patients with nonspecific shoulder pain. Copyright2017http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/13028810.2519/jospt.2017.6698http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/130288oai:zaguan.unizar.es:130288info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/E22info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/FIS/PI07-90924info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/MTM2014-53340-PJOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC & SPORTS PHYSICAL THERAPY 47, 1 (2017), 11-20, B1-B9All rights reservedhttp://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess