Introduction: Trigger point dry needling is becoming an increasingly common therapeutic approach to alleviate neck pain caused by the presence of myofascial trigger points. Purpose: The aim of this diploma work is to determine the effect of trigger point dry needling therapy on neck pain caused by myofascial trigger points in the trapezius muscle through a literature review. Methods: A descriptive method with a systematic literature review was used for this thesis. The time frame for the search was 2018 to 2022, and the literature was searched in English using the key words "dry needling AND neck pain AND trapezius" in the PubMed database. Six researchees were included in the detailed analysis. Results: The total number of participants in all studies was 484. All studies involved trigger point dry needling therapy, which was performed once, except for one study where it was performed twice. Two studies had two experimental groups, one included manual therapy intervention, and the other included deep and superficial trigger point dry needling. One study performed trigger point dry needling and manual therapy in the same intervention. The control groups received either sham trigger point dry needling or manual therapy or trigger point dry needling of another muscle. The measurement tools used in the studies were the algometer and the visual analog scale (VAS) or the numerical rating scale for pain assessment. One study used VAS without an algometer, and in one study, pressure was applied to the painful area with the algometer, and the patient rated the level of pain on the VAS. Discussion and conclusion: The results indicate that trigger point dry needling therapy has positive effects on pain in the trapezius muscle. It makes sense to use it in combination with manual therapy as they bring better results together. Both deep and superficial trigger point dry needling bring similar results, and the exact needle insertion site is not very important in the long term. It is recommended to perform more than one therapy session, as the positive effects last longer. Compression of the needle insertion site is recommended to prevent delayed pain. It would be useful to include studies that observe the effects over a longer period of time and have larger sample sizes.
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