Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Francesco Caroccia, Lucia Raimondi, Francesco Moscagiuri, Michele D'Attilio
Summary: This research utilized thermal infrared imaging to study referred pain evocated by myofascial trigger points in the sternocleidomastoid muscle, finding that in 77% of cases, the referred pain area corresponded to a temperature change of ≥ 0.2 degrees Celsius. The study results suggest that thermal infrared imaging may be used to identify referred pain evocated by trigger points in the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Elzbieta Skorupska, Tomasz Dybek, Michal Rychlik, Marta Jokiel, Jaroslaw Zawadzinski, Pawel Dobrakowski
Summary: The study utilized a new Skorupska protocol (SP) test to examine muscle-referred pain involvement in gluteal syndrome (GS) and sciatica patients by provoking amplified vasodilatation in the expected pain area. The results confirmed amplified vasodilatation suggesting pain involvement for all GS and sciatica patients who reported painful sensations in the typical gluteus minimus referred pain area during the test.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Grzegorz Zielinski, Aleksandra Bys, Jacek Szkutnik, Piotr Majcher, Michal Ginszt
Summary: The study aimed to analyze and compare the electromyographic patterns of masticatory muscles in subjects with active myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) within upper trapezius, patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), and healthy adults. The results showed that both MTrPs in the upper trapezius and TMDs are associated with changes in electromyographic patterns of masticatory muscles.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Maira Rezende Formenton, Karine Portier, Beatriz Ribeiro Gaspar, Lisa Gauthier, Lin Tchia Yeng, Denise Tabacchi Fantoni
Summary: This study examined the number and location of trigger points in police working dogs, finding a higher percentage of trigger points in the spinal and hind limb muscles, especially on the right side. These findings can help improve methods to prevent muscle pain and reduce early retirement in police working dogs.
Article
Neurosciences
Seoyoung Lee, In-Seon Lee, Younbyoung Chae
Summary: This study explored the relationship between acupuncture points and myofascial trigger points (TPs) and found that TPs are closely related to Ashi points. However, TPs also share some features with other acupuncture points, making it difficult to clarify their relationship with other subgroups.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Rehabilitation
Dario E. Mazza, Robert D. Boutin, Abhijit J. Chaudhari
Summary: This study systematically reviewed literature on the objective characterization of myofascial pain syndrome and myofascial trigger points using imaging methods. The findings suggest that biomechanical properties and blood flow differences exist in active and latent myofascial trigger points compared to healthy tissue. More studies are needed to assess diagnostic test accuracy and reproducibility of results for implementing imaging methods in larger clinical studies.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Mingjian Liu, Yu Liu, Xuan Li, Miao Pei, Mei Han, Feng Qi
Summary: Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a chronic pain disorder characterized by myofascial trigger points (MTrPs). This study found that MEF2C is involved in the inflammatory pathogenesis of MTrPs, and suggested that DEX may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for MPS treatment.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Wiktoria Matuska, Jakub Matuska, Elzbieta Skorupska, Maria Siwek, Pablo Herrero, Manel M. Santafe
Summary: This paper summarizes the available literature on modeling nociplastic pain and myofascial trigger points (MTrPs). It includes studies describing animal model creation and presents the results of experiments. Although there is currently insufficient evidence to describe MTrPs as nociplastic pain, this study provides a possible direction for detecting and studying the correlation between MTrPs and nociplastic pain in animal models.
JOURNAL OF PAIN RESEARCH
(2023)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Thomas Perreault, Andrew Ball, Jan Dommerholt, Robert Theiss, Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Raymond Butts
Summary: This article provides a scoping review of the current evidence on the mechanisms of intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) to trigger points (TrPs). The included studies suggest that IMES can regulate muscle blood flow, decrease endplate noise of TrPs, and produce analgesic effects. However, the limited amount and quality of available evidence make it difficult to determine the clinical implications of IMES to TrPs.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Biology
Frauke Mueggenborg, Ester Moreira de Castro Carletti, Liz Dennett, Ana Izabela Sobral de Oliveira-Souza, Norazlin Mohamad, Gunnar Licht, Harry von Piekartz, Susan Armijo-Olivo
Summary: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of evidence from randomized controlled trials on the effectiveness of manual trigger point therapy for orofacial pain. Four studies were included in this systematic review, and it was found that manual trigger point therapy was equally effective and safe for individuals with orofacial myofascial trigger points. However, the overall quality of evidence was found to be very low due to the high risk of bias in the included studies, and further well-designed trials are needed in this field.
Article
Neurosciences
Seoyoung Lee, Heeyoung Moon, Yeonhee Ryu, In-Seon Lee, Younbyoung Chae
Summary: This study compared the properties of myofascial trigger points (TPs) and control points, and found that deep compression at TPs was associated with higher muscle tone and stiffness, lower unpleasantness ratings, and higher relief ratings compared with the control points. These findings suggest that, at least for some TPs, pain and pleasantness are simultaneously elicited by deep pressure stimulation.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Giovanni Barassi, Raffaello Pellegrino, Celeste Di Matteo, Loris Prosperi, Edoardo Di Simone, Celeste Marinucci, Noemi Pepe, Federico Papa, Marta Odorisio, Valentina Zincani, Ilaria Gabriella Micolucci, Ali Younes, Angelo Di Iorio
Summary: This study considered data from 10 patients with non-specific chronic low back pain. The patients underwent six sessions of electrical neuromodulation applied to the areas of the skin with the most perturbed electrical conduction. The study observed improvements in the balance of electrical activity, temperature, disability caused by chronic low back pain, and pressure-pain threshold.
JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL REGULATORS AND HOMEOSTATIC AGENTS
(2023)
Review
Anesthesiology
Marcos J. Navarro-Santana, Jorge Sanchez-Infante, Guido F. Gomez-Chiguano, Joshua A. Cleland, Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Patricia Martin-Casas, Gustavo Plaza-Manzano
Summary: The study compared the effects of dry needling and TrP injections (wet needling) for neck pain and found that wet needling resulted in greater reduction of pain in cervical muscle TrPs in the short term. No significant effects on other outcomes were observed.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Melissa Nahomi Kuroda, Guilherme Thomaz de Aquino Nava, Caroline Baldini Prudencio, Daiane Affonso Paulo, Isadora Peixouto, Maiki Yoshi Moroshima, Mariana de Almeida Lourenco, Caroline Nogueira da Silva, Angelica Mercia Pascon Barbosa, Cristiane Rodrigues Pedroni
Summary: This study aims to compare the effects of ischemic compression (IC) and extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) on pressure pain threshold immediately and 48 hours after the intervention. The study will provide evidence of the effectiveness of IC and ESWT in treating MTrPs in the triceps surae muscles.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Eva Maria Martinez-Jimenez, Raquel Jimenez-Fernandez, Inmaculada Corral-Liria, David Rodriguez-Sanz, Cesar Calvo-Lobo, Daniel Lopez-Lopez, Eduardo Perez-Boal, Bibiana Trevisson-Redondo, Jessica Grande-del-Arco
Summary: This study found that latent myofascial trigger points improved pain pressure threshold after calf MIT, but there was no change in ankle dorsiflexion with knee bent or knee flexed in healthy subjects.
Letter
Psychology, Clinical
Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Jose D. Martin-Guerrero, Ignacio Cancela-Cilleruelo, Paloma Moro-Lopez-Menchero, Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez, Oscar J. Pellicer-Valero
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Jose D. Martin-Guerrero, Lidiane L. Florencio, Esperanza Navarro-Pardo, Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez, Juan Torres-Macho, Oscar J. Pellicer-Valero
Summary: By using cluster analysis on clinical data of COVID-19 survivors, three different subgroups were identified with distinct post-COVID symptoms and clinical characteristics. The study found that some patients experienced more long-term symptoms post-recovery, with greater limitations in daily activities, higher levels of anxiety and depression, and poorer sleep quality.
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Juan Antonio Valera-Calero, Gustavo Plaza-Manzano, Ricardo Ortega-Santiago, Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Umut Varol
Summary: This study aimed to compare the differences between B-mode and panoramic ultrasound imaging in the assessment of muscle morphology and evaluate the concordance between the two methods. The results showed no significant differences in size, shape, and brightness features of cervical multifidus and short rotators between the two methods. Panoramic ultrasound imaging demonstrated good concordance with B-mode in assessing muscle size, shape, and brightness. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.
PHYSICA MEDICA-EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Dermatology
Giulia Erica Aliotta, Silvia Lo Vecchio, Jesper Elberling, Lars Arendt-Nielsen
Summary: This study aims to evaluate the antipruritic effects of topical doxepin on histaminergic and nonhistaminergic itch induced by histamine, BAM8-22, and cowhage. The results showed that doxepin cream almost eliminated histamine-induced itch and slightly reduced BAM8-22- and cowhage-induced itch.
DERMATOLOGIC THERAPY
(2023)
Article
Anesthesiology
Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Jo Nijs, Rocco Giordano, Lars Arendt-Nielsen
Summary: Pain after a SARS-CoV-2 acute infection (post-COVID pain) is a healthcare emergency that is not given enough attention and treatment due to a lack of recognition and understanding of its mechanisms. There is no specific treatment approach for post-COVID pain, as patients show varied responses to standard pain treatments. Precision pain medicine, taking into account individual factors, could improve the management of post-COVID pain.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAIN
(2023)
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
David Fernandez-Hernando, Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Ana Machado-Martin, Santiago Angulo-Diaz-Parreno, Francisco J. Garcia-Esteo, Juan A. Mesa-Jimenez
Summary: In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of non-invasive neuromodulation of the vagus nerve in patients with tinnitus. The results showed that the treatment had a positive effect on related disability in patients with tinnitus, although its clinical relevance was low. More research is needed to draw firm conclusions about the effect of non-invasive neuromodulation of the vagus nerve on tinnitus.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Rehabilitation
Stefano Di Antonio, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Marta Ponzano, Francesca Bovis, Paola Torelli, Elisa Pelosin, Cinzia Finocchi, Matteo Castaldo
Summary: This study found that migraine patients with neck pain had worse headache characteristics, more pronounced cervical musculoskeletal impairments, enhanced signs and symptoms related to sensitization, and worse psychological burden compared to migraine patients without neck pain.
MUSCULOSKELETAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Stella Fuensalida-Novo, Jo Nijs, Annalie Basson, Gustavo Plaza-Manzano, Juan A. Valera-Calero, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Ana I. de-la-Llave-Rincon
Summary: In 2021, the IASP proposed a grading system for classifying patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) into different pain phenotypes. The presence of a nociplastic or mixed-type pain phenotype in CTS patients may explain the lack of clinical effectiveness of selective treatments targeting the carpal tunnel area. Therefore, identifying the predominant pain phenotype in CTS patients is important for achieving better treatment outcomes.
Article
Biology
Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Jo Nijs, Barbara Cagnie, Robert D. Gerwin, Gustavo Plaza-Manzano, Juan A. Valera-Calero, Lars Arendt-Nielsen
Summary: Myofascial pain syndrome involves the presence of myofascial trigger points (TrPs), which can cause referred pain. The classification of TrPs as primary or secondary phenomena and their relationship to central or peripheral nervous system disorders is controversial. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) proposed a clinical criteria and grading system in 2021 to classify patients based on nociceptive, neuropathic, or nociplastic pain phenotypes. While myofascial TrP pain is traditionally categorized as nociceptive, evidence suggests it may also be present in patients with predominantly nociplastic pain. Successful clinical treatment outcomes may be achieved by accurately classifying myofascial TrP pain into these phenotypes.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Gema Diaz-Gil, Francisco Gomez-Esquer, Antonio Gil-Crujera, Stella M. Gomez-Sanchez, Silvia Ambite-Quesada, Maria A. Palomar-Gallego, Oscar J. Pellicer-Valero, Rocco Giordano
Summary: The study aimed to investigate the association between the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene and long COVID symptoms. The results showed no significant relationship between different genotypes of the ApoE gene (ApoE ε2, ApoE ε3, ApoE ε4) and the presence of long COVID symptoms.
Article
Rehabilitation
Ignacio Cancela-Cilleruelo, Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez, Cesar Fernandez-de-Las-Penas, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Jose L. Arias-Buria
Summary: This explorative study found that 16% and 35% of the people with lateral elbow tendinopathy had sensitization- and neuropathic-associated symptoms respectively. Sensitization- and neuropathic-associated symptoms were associated, and pressure pain sensitivity at the elbow was related to neuropathic-associated symptoms.
PHYSIOTHERAPY THEORY AND PRACTICE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Ignacio Cancela-Cilleruelo, Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez, Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Joshua A. Cleland, Jose L. Arias-Buria
Summary: The potential role of the radial nerve in lateral epicondylalgia was investigated in this study. The results showed lower pressure pain thresholds and increased cross-sectional area of the radial nerve in individuals with lateral epicondylalgia. Additionally, the cross-sectional area of the radial nerve was negatively correlated with pressure pain thresholds and positively correlated with function. These findings suggest that there is a widespread sensitization of nerve tissues in people with lateral epicondylalgia, and the radial nerve may play a role in altered pain processing in this condition.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Thomas Perreault, Lars Arendt-Nielson, Cesar Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Jan Dommerholt, Pablo Herrero, Ryan Hubbard
Summary: This study aims to investigate the effects of a five-week intervention period of intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) on trigger points (TrPs) in the posterior cervical muscles of subjects with chronic migraine. The primary outcome measure is the reduction in headache frequency, while the secondary outcome measures include changes in migraine pain intensity, migraine disability, and selected cervical musculoskeletal impairments. The results will be analyzed using visual and statistical analyses.
MEDICINA-LITHUANIA
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Svetlana Solgaard Nielsen, Soren T. Skou, Anette Enemark Larsen, Romanas Polianskis, Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Anne Skov Ostergaard, Kristian Kjaer-Staal Petersen, Henrik Bjarke Vaegter, Jens Sondergaard, Jeanette Reffstrup Christensen
Summary: This study investigated the impact of an occupational therapy lifestyle intervention on pain-related parameters, occupational function, occupational balance, lifestyle factors, and self-perceived health status in adults with chronic high-impact pain. The study found that the intervention appeared to improve motor skills but did not have clear effects on other outcomes. Further research, such as a randomized trial, is needed to confirm these findings.
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PAIN
(2023)
Article
Anesthesiology
L. Arendt-Nielsen, J. T. Pedersen, S. Dreier, T. A. Nielsen, A. L. Hoj, L. Thomsen
Summary: Over the last 45 years, more than 60,000 pain-related papers have been published, developing from mono-disciplinary to multi-disciplinary studies. The overall publication profile in Eur. J. Pain and PAIN (R) was almost similar, including preclinical, human (experimental/clinical) and translational papers.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAIN
(2023)
