Effect of miniscalpel-needle on relieving the pain of myofascial painsyndrome： a systematic review
摘要
OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the effect and safety ofminiscalpel-needle （MSN） on reducing the pain ofmyofascial pain syndrome （MPS）.METHODS： We reviewed the available literatures in-ception up to February 2014 using Pubmed, EM-BASE, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowl-edge Infrastructure Database, Chinese BiomedicalDatabase and Wanfang Database.RESULTS： Eight randomized controlled trials werefinally identified. The main controls involved acu-puncture, medications, injection, massage and cup-ping. We found that all of the studies agreed on thepotential benefit of MSN as a strategy for MPS andthe superiority compared to the controls, however,randomized methods applied in most of the trialscould be criticized for their high or unclear risk ofbias. Further research is also needed to clarify ques-tions around the appropriate frequency and num-ber of treatment sessions of MSN.CONCLUSION： This review shows that MSN mighthave the effect on MPS, even though there weresome limitations in the studies included in the re-view. Studies with robust methodology are warrant-ed to further test its pain-relieving effect on MPS.