Abstract: Objective To explore the clinical effect of inner heating dry needle therapy on nonspecific chronic neck pain (NCNP). Methods From October, 2017 to March, 2018, 60 patients with NCNP were randomly divided into needle group (n=30) and magner group (n=30). The needle group received inner heating dry needle therapy, and the magner group received hot magner therapy. They were measured the strain ratio (SR) of bilateral trapezius muscles, scalp clamp muscles, cephalospinal muscles, semispinalis muscles and multifidus muscles with ultrasound elastography before, and one week and one month after treatment, respectively, while they were assessed with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of pain and Neck Disability Index (NDI). Results The scores of VAS and NDI decreased in both groups one week and one month after treatment (t>2.693, P<0.05), and decreased more in the needle group than in the magner group (F>8.048, P<0.001). SR of all the muscles decreased in the needle group one week and one month after treatment (F>6.22, P<0.01), and only decreased in the right cephalospinal muscles in the magner group (F=4.35, P<0.05).Conclusion Inner heating dry needle therapy could recover the neck muscle elasticity to relieve pain and improve ceivical function in patients with NCNP.

Key words: nonspecific chronic neck pain, inner heating dry needling, ultrasound elastography, muscle elasticity, pain