• Zahra Fakhari, Noureddin Nakhostin Ansari, Soofia Naghdi, Korosh Mansouri, and Hojjat Radinmehr.
• Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
• NeuroRehabilitation. 2017 Jan 1; 40 (3): 325-336.

BackgroundSpasticity is a common complication after stroke. Dry needling (DN) is suggested as a novel method for treatment of muscle spasticity.ObjectiveTo explore the effects of DN on wrist flexors spasticity poststroke.MethodsA single group, pretest-posttest clinical trial was used. Twenty nine patients with stroke (16 male; mean age 54.3 years) were tested at baseline (T0), immediately after DN (T1), and one hour after DN (T2). DN was applied for flexor carpi radialis (FCR) and flexor carpi ulnaris on the affected arm for single session, one minute per muscle. The Modified Modified Ashworth Scale (MMAS), passive resistance force, wrist active and passive range of motion, Box and Block Test, and FCR H-reflex were outcome measures.ResultsSignificant reductions in MMAS scores were seen both immediately after DN and at 1-hour follow-up (median 2 at T0 to 1 at T1 and T2). There were significant improvements in other measures between the baseline values at T0 and those recorded immediately after the DN at T1 or one hour later at T2.ConclusionsThis study suggests that DN reduced wrist flexors spasticity and alpha motor neuron excitability in patients with stroke, and improvements persisted for one hour after DN.

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