Background and purpose: Athletes reporting chest pain are challenging to diagnose and equally challenging to treat. The majority of chest pain is musculoskeletal in origin, yet differentiating these from other more serious conditions should be the initial primary focus. The ability to reproduce the patient's symptoms aids in the differential diagnostic process. The purpose of this case report is to illustrate the use of dry needling (DN) to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of focal chest wall pain.
Case descriptions: A 22 year-old male military athlete with anterior chest pain, refractory to traditional physical therapy, was evaluated and treated with dry needling.
Outcomes: Favorable results were achieved as demonstrated by clinically meaningful improvements in the Patient Specific Functional Scale, the Global Rating of Change score, and his physical performance which allowed this athlete to return to competition and military training.
Conclusion: Dry needling in the hands of properly trained providers may aid in diagnosis and treatment of focal chest wall syndromes.
Level of evidence: Therapy, Level 4.
Keywords: chest pain; costochondritis; dry needling; military athlete; physical therapy.