Effect of Dry Needling Combined with a Structured Exercise Programme versus Manual Therapy Combined with a Structured Exercise Programme on Pain in Athletes with Iliotibial Band Syndrome: A Comparative Study

Background:Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) is one of the most common overuse injuries affecting athletes involved inrepetitive running and jumping activities. The condition is characterized by lateral knee pain that interferes withathletic performance and functional training. Exercise-based rehabilitation remains the cornerstone ofconservative management; however, adjunctive interventions such as manual therapy and dry needling arefrequently incorporated to improve pain relief. Despite their widespread clinical use, evidence directlycomparing the pain-relieving effects of these interventions when combined with the same structured exerciseprogramme remains limited.Objective:To compare the effectiveness of Dry Needling combined with a structured exercise programme and ManualTherapy combined with the same exercise programme on pain intensity in athletes with Iliotibial BandSyndrome.Methods:A comparative interventional study was conducted among 60 athletes aged 18–40 years with clinically diagnosedIliotibial Band Syndrome. Participants were randomly allocated into two equal groups. Group A received ManualTherapy with a structured exercise programme, whereas Group B received Dry Needling with the same exerciseprogramme. Both groups underwent supervised treatment five sessions per week for six weeks. Pain intensitywas assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) before and after the intervention. Within-group andbetween-group comparisons were performed using paired and independent t-tests, with statistical significanceset at p < 0.05.Results:Both intervention groups demonstrated statistically significant reductions in pain following six weeks oftreatment (p < 0.001). The Manual Therapy group improved from 6.50 ± 1.11 to 5.43 ± 0.86, whereas the DryNeedling group improved from 6.50 ± 1.11 to 3.57 ± 0.90. Between-group analysis demonstrated significantlygreater pain reduction in the Dry Needling group compared with the Manual Therapy group (p < 0.001).Conclusion:Both Manual Therapy and Dry Needling, when combined with a structured exercise programme, effectivelyreduced pain in athletes with Iliotibial Band Syndrome. However, Dry Needling produced significantly greatershort-term pain reduction and may be considered the preferred adjunctive intervention for pain managementduring conservative rehabilitation