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Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Trigger Points, Sports Medicine

Navid Mahooti, MD, MPH, CAQSM Reviewed 04/2019
 


BASICS

DESCRIPTION

  • Descriptions of painful muscle and “thickenings” or “knots” dates back to at least the 16th century. In the mid-1900s, Kellgren injected hypertonic saline into various anatomical str...

DIAGNOSIS

HISTORY

  • Patients often report vague, persistent, or intermittent symptoms in a region of the body that do not fit a more classic MSK diagnosis, or resemble a common orthopedic/medical problem...

TREATMENT

GENERAL MEASURES

  • There are numerous treatments described in the literature for MSK pain in general. It is unclear how often MPS is misdiagnosed as a condition that (i) presents similarly and ...

ONGOING CARE

PATIENT EDUCATION

REFERENCES

1
Gerwin RD. Diagnosis of myofascial pain syndrome. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am.  2014;25(2):341–355.
2
Dor A, Kalichman L. A myofascial component of pain in knee osteoarthritis. J Bodyw M...

ADDITIONAL READING

  • Simons DG, Travell JG, Simons LS. Travell & Simmon’s Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual. Upper Half of Body. Vol 1. 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Williams ...

CLINICAL PEARLS

  • Pathophysiology not fully understood

  • Commonly overlooked cause of numerous pain presentations; include MPS in the differential diagnosis of every pain presentation.

  • Diagnosis is clinical...

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