In people suffering from low back pain, treatment with dry needling appears to better reduce the stiffness of resting erector spinae muscle when compared to sham dry needling, as per the findings of a study published in The Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy. Shane L Koppenhaver et al. undertook this study for exploring the impact of dry needling and sham dry needling on the stiffness of lumbar muscle in 60 people having low back pain.

The recruited subjects were randomized to get 1 session of sham dry needling or dry needling therapy to lumbar muscle and erector spinae muscle. In this double-blind, randomized controlled trial, the shear modulus (stiffness) of lumbar multifidus and erector spinae muscles was evaluated using shear wave elastography at rest and during submaximal contraction prior to therapy, immediately after therapy, and one week later. With the aid of linear mixed models, estimation of therapeutic effects was done.

Compared to sham dry needling, people treated with  dry needling revealed  reduced stiffness of erector spinae muscle following one week. The remaining between-group differences in muscle stiffness were comparable but non-significant. Thus, dry needling therapy is valuable for the management of low back pain.