{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T10:30:55Z","timestamp":1784629855356,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]],"date-time":"2022-01-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642377600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]],"date-time":"2022-01-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642377600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Case Reports"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Myofascial pain is a complex health condition that affects the majority of the general population. Myalgia has been recognized as a symptom of long COVID syndrome. The treatment for long COVID syndrome-related myalgia lacks research. Dry needling is a technique that involves the insertion of a needle into the tissue of, or overlaying, a pain point. Wet needling is the addition of an injection of an analgesic substance such as lidocaine while performing needling. Both dry and wet needling have are practiced as treatment modalities for myofascial pain. Limited literature exists to define long COVID syndrome-related myalgia and its relation to myofascial pain, or to examine the utility of needling techniques for this pain. We report a case of dry and wet needling as effective treatments for long COVID-related myofascial pain.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Case presentation<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>A 59-year-old, previously healthy Hispanic male with no comorbid conditions was diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia. The patient suffered moderate disease without hypoxia and was never hospitalized. Three\u00a0months later, the patient continued to suffer from symptoms such as exertional dyspnea, \u201cbrain fog,\u201d and myalgia. An extensive multisystem workup revealed normal cardiac, pulmonary, and end organ functions. The patient was then diagnosed with long COVID syndrome. The nature and chronicity of the patient\u2019s myalgia meet the criteria for myofascial pain. Both wet and dry needling were used to treat the patient\u2019s myofascial pain, with good short- and long-term therapeutic effects.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>COVID-19 infection has been shown to exacerbate preexisting myofascial pain syndrome. Our case report indicates that long COVID syndrome-related myalgia is likely a form of new-onset myofascial pain. Additionally, both wet and dry needling can be utilized as an effective treatment modality for this pain syndrome, with short- and long-term benefits.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13256-021-03239-w","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]],"date-time":"2022-01-17T16:03:00Z","timestamp":1642435380000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Trigger point injections and dry needling can be effective in treating long COVID syndrome-related myalgia: a case report"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3034-1255","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mengyi","family":"Zha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kristina","family":"Chaffee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jude","family":"Alsarraj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1\u20132","key":"3239_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1300\/J094v04n01_07","volume":"4","author":"DG Simons","year":"1996","unstructured":"DG Simons 1996 Clinical and etiological update of myofascial pain from trigger points J Musculoskel Pain. 4 1\u20132 93 122","journal-title":"J Musculoskel Pain."},{"issue":"3","key":"3239_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"278","DOI":"10.1097\/AJP.0b013e31802fda7c","volume":"23","author":"EA Tough","year":"2007","unstructured":"EA Tough AR White S Richards J Campbell 2007 Variability of criteria used to diagnose myofascial trigger point pain syndrome\u2013evidence from a review of the literature Clin J Pain 23 3 278 286","journal-title":"Clin J Pain"},{"issue":"2","key":"3239_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.5604\/15093492.1205022","volume":"18","author":"N Taheri","year":"2016","unstructured":"N Taheri F Okhovatian A Rezasoltani M Karami SM Hosseini HK Mohammadi 2016 Ultrasonography in diagnosis of myofascial pain syndrome and reliability of novel ultrasonic indexes of upper trapezius muscle Ortop Traumatol Rehabil 18 2 149 154","journal-title":"Ortop Traumatol Rehabil"},{"issue":"10","key":"3239_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1331","DOI":"10.7863\/jum.2011.30.10.1331","volume":"30","author":"JJ Ballyns","year":"2011","unstructured":"JJ Ballyns JP Shah J Hammond T Gebreab LH Gerber S Sikdar 2011 Objective sonographic measures for characterizing myofascial trigger points associated with cervical pain J Ultrasound Med 30 10 1331 1340","journal-title":"J Ultrasound Med"},{"key":"3239_CR5","first-page":"9","volume":"2014","author":"MS Jafri","year":"2014","unstructured":"MS Jafri 2014 Mechanisms of Myofascial Pain Int Sch Res Notices. 2014 9","journal-title":"Int Sch Res Notices."},{"issue":"1","key":"3239_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1002\/msc.1366","volume":"17","author":"S Bourgaize","year":"2019","unstructured":"S Bourgaize I Janjua K Murnaghan S Mior J Srbely G Newton 2019 Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome: Two sides of the same coin? 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A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"31"}}