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CompletedNCT05671523Updated Sep 13, 2023

Effect Of Dry Needling On Quality Of Life In Patients With Trigger Fingers

An interventional study of Dry needling and conventional treatment in Trigger Finger Disorder, sponsored by Cairo University. Completed at 1 site in Egypt. Open to participants aged 45 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-09-13.

Sponsored by Cairo University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
45 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study will be conducted to investigate the effect of dry needling on quality of life in patients with trigger finger

Read the detailed description

Trigger finger (TF) is one of the most prevalent causes of hand disability and is a common cause of referral to orthopedic clinics. Trigger finger is tenosynovitis of the flexor sheaths that typically occurs in the 4th finger and thumb as a result of repetitive use. The incidence of TF is 28:100,000 per year or lifetime risk of 2.6% in the general population. It has the highest incidence being between 52 and 62 years more in women (75%). Thumb and fourth digit (ring finger) are the most commonly affected fingers.

Dry needling (DN) is a relatively new technique used by physical therapists to treat myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) and various pain syndromes. Dry needling is defined as a "skilled intervention using a thin filiform needle to penetrate the skin that stimulates myofascial TrPs, muscles, and connective tissue for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain disorders. DN has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, it is commonly used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation.

02

Conditions studied

  • Trigger Finger Disorder
03

In context

Trigger Finger Disorder

93 studies on the registry are indexed under Trigger Finger Disorder; 22 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 40 is below the median of 66 across 75 interventional studies indexed under Trigger Finger Disorder.

Browse Trigger Finger Disorder studies →

Lead sponsor

Cairo University is the lead sponsor of 4,941 studies on the registry; 1,458 are open to participants now.

Of its 37 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 5 (14%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
45 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • 40 patients all have trigger fingers lasting at least 4 weeks.
  • Both gender will be included
  • Age of patients will be 45-75 years old
  • Pain and tenderness at the position of A1 pulley.
  • Nodule palpation, pain, and discomfort when flexing and extending the finger, presence of a clicking sound at the time of flexion or extension of the finger, snapping or locking of the finger.
  • Willing and able to complete study procedures.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with diabetes mellitus.
  • History of trauma, and rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Dialysis treatment.
  • fingers with a history of local gouty/pyogenic disease.
  • Major hand trauma and fear of needles.
  • Any for deep dry needling such as anticoagulants, infections, bleeding, or psychotic conditions tumors, calcium deposits, or severe osteoarthritis.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
40 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Dry needling

    The patients will receive ten sessions, twice a week, for five weeks of dry needling in addition to their conventional physical therapy program (splinting and ultrasound therapy.)

    Procedure: Dry needling · Other: conventional treatment

  • Active comparator
    conventional treatment

    The patients will receive conventional treatment (splinting and ultrasound therapy) for 5 weeks

    Other: conventional treatment

Interventions

  • ProcedureDry needling

    Firstly the skin is cleaned with a piece of cotton immersed in alcohol. Then sterilized disposable thin, stainless steel needles (25 × 0.30 mm) will be inserted into the skin over the nodule in A1 pulley anatomic location. The duration of needling will be 1 minute. The needle will be inserted deeply at 45° to the level of metacarpophalangeal level to the nodule. The needle may be inserted into the tendon. This is confirmed by needle movement when the patient flexes and extends the distal phalanx. The needle is withdrawn slowly until this motion ceases, and the needle tip is in the A1 pulley. This will be repeated 2 times per week for 5 weeks.

  • Otherconventional treatment

    Finger splint is designed to stabilize and immobilize a small finger joint. A wide, flat band offers comfortable pressure distribution and control. Contoured finger splint with a comfortable, close fit. The patient will use the splint at night. Can easily be adjusted to accommodate swollen digits. Suitable for a number of finger conditions. Therapeutic ultrasound is often used by physiotherapists to reduce pain, increase circulation and increase mobility of soft tissues. Additionally, the application of ultrasound can be helpful in the reduction of inflammation, reducing pain and the healing.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Life quality

    Quality of life will be assessed by quality of life questionnaire which is a broad concept that covers such areas as social, environmental, economic, and health satisfaction, health-related quality of life (HRQL) is less wide ranging, including mental and physical health and their consequences. Higher score denote higher quality of life and lower score denote lower quality of life. There are two methods for converting raw scores to transformed scores. The first transformation method converts score to range between 4-20,comparable with the WHOQOL-100. The second transformation method converts domain scores to a 0-100 scale.

    Time frame: up to five weeks

  2. Severity of pain

    severity of pain will be assessed by visual analogue scale. Scores are based on self-reported measures of symptoms that are recorded with a single handwritten mark placed at one point along the length of a 10-cm line that represents a continuum between the two ends of the scale "no pain" on the left end (0 cm) of the scale and the "worst pain" on the right end of the scale (10 cm). The patient will be asked to mark their current pain level on the line. They can also be asked to mark their maximum, minimum, and average pain. The examiner will score the VAS by measuring the distance in either centimeters (0 to 10) or millimeters (0 to 100) from the "no pain" anchor point.

    Time frame: up to five weeks

  3. Hand grip strength

    Hand grip strength will be assessed by Hand grip dynamometer

    Time frame: up to five weeks

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Study locations

1 site
  • Damanhour teaching hospital
    Damanhūr, Egypt
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 13, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05671523
Lead sponsor
Cairo University
Responsible party
Abeer Yamany, Ph. D. (principal investigator, Cairo University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 4, 2023
Start date
Jan 1, 2023
Primary completion
Jun 10, 2023
Completion
Jun 10, 2023
Last update
Sep 13, 2023

Study contacts

Eman Em El halawany
principal investigator · Damanhour Teaching Hospital

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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