Acupuncture for Myofascial Pain of the Masticatory Muscles Management - Abstract
Temporomandibular disorders are currently highly prevalent, especially in modern societies. Their management is demanding and needs multidisciplinary approach. Acupuncture is recognized as one of the
treatment modalities of masticatory muscles’ myofascial pain. Authors searched the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases for papers describing usefulness of acupuncture and dry needling in the treatment of myofascial pain of the masticatory muscles. The inclusion criteria were: clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses regarding application of acupuncture for myofascial pain treatment among adults, that where published in English language between January 2000 and May 2018 as full-text and peer-reviewed journal articles. Initially authors obtained 113 results, of which 19 papers were included. Main outcome of acupuncture therapy was analgesic effect, which was presented as a reduction of subjective pain on visual analogue scale (VAS). Included studies had limitations, of which the most common was a small sample size. Standard acupuncture and dry needling should be considered as beneficial methods for myofascial pain management in patients with masticatory muscles disorders.