Efficacy of EMLA cream phonophoresis comparison with ultrasound therapy on
myofascial pain syndrome of the trapezius: a single-blind, randomized clinical
study.
Author(s): Ustun N(1), Arslan F, Mansuroglu A, Inanoglu D, Yagız AE, Guler H, Turhanoglu AD.
Affiliation(s): Author information:
(1)Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine,
Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey, drnustun@yahoo.com.tr.
Publication date & source: 2014, Rheumatol Int. , 34(4):453-7
The aim of this study is to investigate whether eutectic mixture of local
anesthetics (EMLA) cream phonophoresis superior to conventional US over the
trigger points (TPs) in terms of improvements of pain, range of motion and
disability in myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). Fifty patients (42 female, 8 male)
diagnosed with MPS were included in the study. Patients were randomly assigned
into two treatment groups including phonophoresis (PH) group (n = 25) and
ultrasound (US) group (n = 25). PH group received EMLA cream phonophoresis (2.5 %
lidocaine, 2.5 % prilocaine); US group received conventional ultrasound therapy
over the all active TPs on trapezius muscle for 10 min a day for 15 sessions.
Outcome measures were performed before the treatment course and at the end of a
15-session course of treatment. Student T, Mann-Whitney U, chi-square and
Wilcoxon tests were used for statistical analysis. At the end of the therapy,
there was statistically significant decrease in both PH group and US group in
terms of number of trigger point (NTP) (p = 0.001, p = 0.029), pain intensity on
movement (p = 0.001 vs. 0.002) and right/left cervical lateral ROMs (p = 0.001/p
= 0.001, p = 0.009/p = 0.020) relative to baseline. The NTP decrease in PH group
was significantly higher than that in US group (1.84 ± 1.46 vs. 0.72 ± 1.45; p =
0.01). Pain intensity at rest (p = 0.001) and NPDI scores (p = 0.001) were
statistically improvement in only PH group. EMLA cream phonophoresis is more
effective than conventional ultrasound therapy in terms of pain and associated
neck disability, and it seems the complementary treatment option for MPS.
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