Manual therapies in myofascial trigger point treatment: a systematic review

Conclusions: The principal conclusion of this review is that there have been very few randomized controlled trials that analyse treatment of MPS using manual therapy. The second conclusion is that the hypothesis that manual therapies have specific efficacy, beyond placebo, in the management of MPS is neither supported nor refuted by research to date. Controlled trials are needed to investigate whether manual therapy has an effect beyond placebo on MTrP management.