NCT05893914Completed
Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation for the Treatment of Trigger Points in Patients With Migraine
Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation for the Treatment of Trigger Points in Patients With Migraine: A Single Case Experimental Design
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 8 May 2025
Brief summary (registry, in English)
The goal of this single-case experimental study is to investigate the effects of intramuscular electrical stimulation for the treatment of trigger points on reducing the frequency of headaches in a small sample of patients with chronic migraine. Additionally, this study seeks to investigate the effects of intramuscular electrical stimulation to trigger points on reducing the overall headache intensity, impact and disability using research validated questionnaires.Intramuscular electrical stimulation is a treatment that uses needles to deliver electrical current into muscles, or trigger points, for reducing pain and improving function. Trigger points are painful spots within taut bands of muscle that produce pain when pressure is applied or spontaneously. Participants will be included if they have at least a 6-month history of chronic migraine headache. Due to the nature of the single case experimental design study, participants will each serve as their own controls and be randomized to various baseline measures where they will record headaches and symptoms using an electronic headache diary. During the intervention phase, participants will receive dry needling treatment with intramuscular electrical stimulation, and will continue recording in the electronic headache diary and complete all self reported outcome measures at the final treatment session.
- Status (registry)
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 4 (actual)
- First submitted
- 30 May 2023
- Start date
- 4 Aug 2023
- Primary completion date
- 7 Oct 2024
- Lead sponsor
- Thomas W. Perreault, PT
- Diseases
- Migraine
- NCT number
- NCT05893914
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Participants enrolled: 4
- From 4 Aug 2023 to the primary completion date, 7 Oct 2024
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- Presence of other primary or secondary headache diagnoses, including medication overuse headache
- previous surgery in the cervical spine region
- fibromyalgia
- Having received any of the following within the past 12 months
- physical therapy
Other illness
- history of whiplash
Other
- cervical radiculopathy
- cervical spondylosis or stenosis
- pregnancy
- trigger point injection
- anesthetic blocks
- radiofrequency lesioning
- botulinum toxin injections
- acupuncture
- dry needling
Who the study is looking for
- At least a 6-month history of headaches consistent with a diagnosis of chronic migraine headache according to International Headache Society (IHS) criteria
- Presence of trigger points in at least 2 of the following posterior cervical muscles, ipsilateral to the side of headache, and reproducing headache symptoms upon stimulation within the distribution of headache
- splenius capitis
- splenius cervicis
- semispinalis capitis/cervicis
- cervical multifidi
- obliquus capitis inferior
Age in the registry: 18 years to 65 years · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Save your city in your profile to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wentworth-Douglass Hospital Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Dover | United States | Unknown status |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.