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Enrolling by invitationNCT07772661Bowen+ESWTUpdated Aug 21, 2026

Comparative Effects of the Bowen Technique With and Without Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy in Patients With Deep Gluteal Syndrome

An interventional study of Experimental : Group A = Bowen With ESWT and Control Group: Group B= Bowen Techniques only in Deep Gluteal Syndrome, sponsored by University of Management and Technology Sialkot Pakistan. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in Pakistan. Open to participants aged 25 Years to 45 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-21.

Sponsored by University of Management and Technology Sialkot Pakistan · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
46
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
25 Years to 45 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

A single-blinded, randomized controlled trial consisting of 46 participants with Deep Gluteal syndrome, calculated by the G power tool with an attrition rate of 5 % will be conducted. Participants will be recruited using non-probability convenience sampling based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Participants will be randomly assigned into two groups with 23 participants each group. Group A will receive Bowen Technique with extracorporeal shockwave therapy. Group B will receive Bowen Technique without extracorporeal shockwave therapy in conjunction with conventional therapy. Primary outcomes like pain, functional level and ROM will be measured at baseline and post-intervention using the Lower extremity functional scale (LEFS), Numeric Pain Rating scale (NPRS), and Goniometer. Data will be analyzed by IBM SPSS 26.0 with the Shapiro-Wilk test to confirm the normality.

Read the detailed description

This randomized controlled trial investigates the effects of Bowen Technique with and without Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy in patients with Deep Gluteal Syndrome. The study includes 46 participants, with 23 participants allocated to each group. Group A receives Bowen Technique combined with ESWT, while Group B receives Bowen Technique without ESWT, with both groups receiving standardized physiotherapy. The main outcomes assessed are pain intensity, lower-limb function, hip range of motion, and clinical provocation tests including the FAIR Test, Active Piriformis Test, and Seated Piriformis Stretch Test. NPRS, LEFS, universal goniometry, and the clinical special tests are used to evaluate changes from baseline to post-treatment. The study aims to determine whether adding ESWT to Bowen Technique provides greater clinical benefit than Bowen Technique alone in patients with Deep Gluteal Syndrom

02

Conditions studied

  • Deep Gluteal Syndrome

Keywords

  • Bowen therapy
  • Deep gluteal syndrome
  • Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy
03

Who can participate

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Individuals aged 25 to 45 years, including both genders 55
  • Positive FAIR, Active Piriformis Test, Seated Piriformis Stretch Test 56,6,57
  • NPRS pain score ≥ 3/10 55
  • For a minimum of four weeks, there has been unilateral discomfort in the buttock, with or without accompanying posterior thigh pain, exacerbated by sitting 58

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous surgery involving the ipsilateral hip, pelvis, lumbar spine, or sacroiliac joint 34
  • Women who were pregnant or nursing were excluded 59
  • Medical conditions such as tumors or fractures 60
  • Neuromuscular disorders that impair normal lumbopelvic morphology or progressive neurologic disease 60
  • Disc pathologies identified through radiological imaging 17
  • Pathologies of the hip joint and soft tissues 17
  • Recent trauma history 17
  • History of polyneuropathy, sciatic nerve injury, rheumatological disease, or malignancy 17
  • Corticosteroid therapy or opioid-derived analgesia for pain during the previous month 17
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
46 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    GROUP A (Bowen Technique with ESWT)

    Group A will receive Bowen Technqiue with ESWT along with conventional Physiotherapy Protocol.

    Other: Experimental : Group A = Bowen With ESWT

  • Active comparator
    GROUP B (Bowen technique without ESWT)

    Group B will receive Bowen Technqiue ONLY along with conventional Physiotherapy Protocol.

    Other: Control Group: Group B= Bowen Techniques only

Interventions

  • OtherExperimental : Group A = Bowen With ESWT

    Bowen Technique is a gentle manual fascial technique used to reduce muscle tension, pain, and soft-tissue restriction. ESWT is a non-invasive mechanical treatment that delivers shockwaves to promote analgesia, circulation, and tissue repair. In Deep Gluteal Syndrome, both can target the painful and restricted deep gluteal tissues, so my study compares Bowen alone with Bowen combined with ESWT to determine whether the addition of ESWT provides greater clinical benefit

  • OtherControl Group: Group B= Bowen Techniques only

    The Bowen Technique is a gentle manual soft-tissue technique developed by Thomas Bowen. It uses slow, precise, cross-fiber rolling movements over muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia, with short rest periods between sets of movements. In your study, the therapist applies gentle pressure to the deep gluteal muscles, holds the tissue briefly, then moves across it in a controlled manner.

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. UNIVERSAL GONIOMETRY

    A goniometer is a conventional clinical tool utilized to assess joint range of motion (ROM), offering objective and dependable measurements to assess mobility restrictions in musculoskeletal disorders72 . Goniometric measurement of passive hip ROM has good test-retest reliability, with ICC ranging from 0.82 to 0.94 across different hip movements79 * For goniometric evaluation of hip internal rotation, the minimal detectable change (MDC) is 8.6°, and for hip external rotation, it is 6.1° 18 * According to anchor-based methodology, the minimal clinically significant difference (MCID) for hip range of motion is 5.81° 80

    Time frame: 6 Weeks

  2. NUMERICAL PAIN RATING SCALE (NPRS)

    The Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) is a self-reported metric utilized to evaluate pain severity in individuals with musculoskeletal conditions 70 * It is a simple 11-point scale that ranges from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable) that can be administered verbally or in writing 74 * which shows multilevel likelihood ratios of 0.99 (scores 1-3), 2.67 (scores 4-6), and 5.60 (scores 7-10) for detecting pain-related functional interference, and an established sensitivity of 69 percent at ascore of 175 .Patients are asked to rate their current, best, and worst pain levels during the previous 24 hours, and the average of the three values is used to get the final pain intensity score 76 The NPRS minimal clinically significant difference (MCID) in this current study was set at two points 77 . The NPRS is widely used in research and clinical environments due to its ease of use, high reliability, validity, and responsiveness to clinically relevant changes in both acute and chronic

    Time frame: 6 Weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. LEFS

    The Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS) is a patient-reported outcome measure utilized to evaluate functional impairments in individuals with lower extremity musculoskeletal disorders 71 . There are twenty items in the LEFS, and the scores range from 0 (extreme difficulty/unable to perform activity) to 4 (no difficulty). By adding up the scores for each item, the overall score can be found. Extreme limitations are indicated by a score of 0, while a maximum score of 80 denotes no functional limitations82 * When compared to the SF-36, the LEFS's construct validity was confirmed, and its sensitivity to change was higher than the SF-36's.The subgroup of patients with more chronic conditions showed excellent test-retest reliability (r = 0.94; 95 percent lower limit CI = 0.89) 71 * When tested against the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test as an external criterion, the LEFS showed exceptional diagnostic accuracy with a sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 96% at a cut-off score of 53

    Time frame: 6 Weeks

06

Study locations

1 site
  • University of Management and technology Sialkot Campus
    Sialkot, Punjab Province 51070, Pakistan
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Amjad F, Khalid A. Comparative effects of Bowen therapy and tennis ball technique on pain and functional disability in patients with thoracic myofascial pain syndrome. J Orthop Surg Res. 2023 Nov 24;18(1):895. doi: 10.1186/s13018-023-04379-z. PubMed 37996838 ↗
  • De la Corte-Rodriguez H, Roman-Belmonte JM, Rodriguez-Damiani BA, Vazquez-Sasot A, Rodriguez-Merchan EC. Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for the Treatment of Musculoskeletal Pain: A Narrative Review. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Oct 26;11(21):2830. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11212830. PubMed 37957975 ↗
  • Kurkova S, Kyncl M, Ibrahim I, Lachman H, Sakmarova K, Machac S. Exploring non-invasive diagnostic tools for deep gluteal syndrome: a multimodal approach integrating clinical and imaging techniques. Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2025 Sep 1;15(9):8409-8422. doi: 10.21037/qims-2025-241. Epub 2025 Aug 13. PubMed 40893505 ↗
  • Carro LP, Hernando MF, Cerezal L, Navarro IS, Fernandez AA, Castillo AO. Deep gluteal space problems: piriformis syndrome, ischiofemoral impingement and sciatic nerve release. Muscles Ligaments Tendons J. 2016 Dec 21;6(3):384-396. doi: 10.11138/mltj/2016.6.3.384. eCollection 2016 Jul-Sep. PubMed 28066745 ↗

Related links

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07772661
Lead sponsor
University of Management and Technology Sialkot Pakistan
Responsible party
Danyal Ahmad (Head of the department, University of Management and Technology Sialkot Pakistan) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 19, 2026
Start date
May 1, 2026
Primary completion
Jun 25, 2026
Completion
Sep 1, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 21, 2026

Study contacts

Hamza Zahid
principal investigator · University of Management and Technology Sialkot Pakistan

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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