Mepivacaine Provides Greater Short-Term Relief Than Dry Needling and Local Lidocaine for Myofascial Pain: Study
Turkey: A study comparing dry needling and local anesthetic injections for myofascial pain found that all three treatment modalities significantly reduced pain and improved psychological well-being during the one-week follow-up period. Among the treatments, mepivacaine produced greater short-term pain relief than dry needling.
The findings suggest that both lidocaine and mepivacaine injections are effective options for the short-term management of myofascial pain. However, longer-term studies are needed to determine the durability of these benefits and to better understand the comparative advantages of each treatment approach. The study was published in BMC Oral Health by Sümer Münevveroğlu and colleagues from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey.
- All three treatment modalities significantly reduced pain, depressive symptoms, and temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms.
- Pain intensity improved significantly over time, with treatment type influencing the degree of pain reduction.
- Mepivacaine produced the greatest reduction in pain scores, with a mean decrease of 5.36 points.
- Pain relief with mepivacaine was significantly greater than that achieved with dry needling.
- Lidocaine also significantly reduced pain, but its effect was not significantly different from that of dry needling.
- The findings suggest that mepivacaine may provide superior short-term pain relief compared with dry needling.
- No significant differences were observed among the three treatment groups in improvements in depressive symptoms.
- No significant differences were found among the groups in reductions in self-reported TMD symptom severity.
- All three interventions were similarly effective in improving the psychological and functional aspects of myofascial pain during the short-term follow-up period.
