Myofascial Trigger Points: Pathophysiology And ...
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Questions from patients about pain conditions and analgesic pharmacotherapy and responses from authors are presented to help educate patients and make them more effective self-advocates. Trigger point pathophysiology in myofascial pain syndrome, which involves muscle stiffness, tenderness, and pain that radiates to other areas of the body, is considered. The causes of trigger points and several theories about how they develop are reviewed, and treatment approaches, including stretching, physical therapy, dry needling, and injections, are offered.
Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs), also known as trigger points, are described as hyperirritable spots in the skeletal muscle. They are associated with palpable nodules in taut bands of muscle fibers.[1] They are a topic of ongoing controversy, as there is limited data to inform a scientific understanding of the phenomenon. Accordingly, a formal acceptance of myofascial "knots" as an identifiable source of pain is more common among bodyworkers, physical therapists, chiropractors, and osteopathic practitioners. Nonetheless, the concept of trigger points provides a framework which may be used to help address certain musculoskeletal pain.
Since the early 2000s several research studies have been conducted to determine if there was a way to visualize myofascial trigger points using tools such as ultrasound imaging and magnetic resonance elastography.[7][8][9][10] Several of these studies have been dismissed under meta-analysis.[11] Another synthetic literature review expressed more optimism about the validity of imaging for myofascial trigger points, but admitted small sample sizes of the reviewed studies.[12]
The misdiagnosis of pain is the most important issue taken up by Travell and Simons. Referred pain from trigger points mimics the symptoms of a very long list of common maladies, but physicians, in weighing all the possible causes for a given condition, rarely consider a myofascial source. The study of trigger points has not historically been part of medical education. Travell and Simons hold that most of the common everyday pain is caused by myofascial trigger points and that ignorance of that basic concept could inevitably lead to false diagnoses and the ultimate failure to deal effectively with pain.[14]
Studies have shown a moderate level of evidence for manual therapy for short-term relief in the treatment of myofascial trigger points. Dry needling and dry cupping have not shown evidence of efficacy greater than a placebo. There have not been enough in-depth studies to be conclusive about the latter treatment modalities, however.[25]
In the 19th century, British physician George William Balfour, German anatomist Robert Froriep, and the German physician Strauss described pressure-sensitive, painful knots in muscles, sometimes called myofascial trigger points through retrospective diagnosis.[31][32]
A review from 2015 in the journal Rheumatology, official journal of the British Society for Rheumatology, came to the conclusion that the concept of myofascial pain caused by trigger points was nothing but an invention without any scientific basis.[33] A rejection of this criticism appeared in the Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies, the official journal of several therapeutic societies, including The National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists USA.[34][35]
Active myofascial trigger points are one of the major peripheral pain generators for regional and generalized musculoskeletal pain conditions. Myofascial trigger points are also the targets for acupuncture and/or dry needling therapies. Recent evidence in the understanding of the pathophysiology of myofascial trigger points supports The Integrated Hypothesis for the trigger point formation; however unanswered questions remain. Current evidence shows that spontaneous electrical activity at myofascial trigger point originates from the extrafusal motor endplate. The spontaneous electrical activity represents f