Mechanisms of Myofascial Pain

Ouch! Why are my muscles still sore after a week? I don’t recall bumping into anything. Why does this one spot hurt to the touch? These are just some of the questions you may find yourself asking before a myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) diagnosis.

The majority of the world's population, at some point in their lives, will experience muscle pain that will generally ease up after a while with some rest and pain pills. However, some people’s muscle pain does not ease up, instead, it intensifies and continues.

The Mechanistic Hypothesis of Myofascial Pain

Myofascial pain syndrome is a significant health concern that affects about 85% of the world's overall demographic, with a projected prevalence of roughly 46%. Myofascial pain syndrome can cause you to lose your sense of well-being, cause overwhelming pain, and impair your mobility.

An underlying issue with this syndrome is that there are tense groups of muscles that have generalized, oversensitive areas - these areas are myofascial trigger points and are the source of the pain.

Although there have been tremendous public health findings on MPS, you must understand that the mechanisms of myofascial pain syndrome still currently do not exist - and are more likely than not - this is due to the disorder’s complex nature that involves:

• Local Circulation

• Energy Metabolism

• Neuromuscular Inputs

• Integrating Cellular Signaling

• Excitation-Contraction Coupling

Additionally, the lack of animal models for testing the mechanistic hypotheses for myofascial pain continues to create challenges.

What Is Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS)?

Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic pain condition in which your body’s musculoskeletal system is affected. People who live with MPS speak of painful, sensitive spots on their body, these are called trigger points and any kind of pressure can cause significant pain in a separate part of the body which is called “referred pain”.

Symptoms of Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Some of the most common symptoms of MPS include:

• Insomnia and/or mood instabilities.

• Prolonged and persistent muscle pain.

• Localized, deep pain in specific areas of the muscle.

• Pain that intensifies when attempting to stretch a muscle.

• Muscles that have a reduced range of motion and are weak, inflexible, and stiff.

• Painful knots in your muscles that cause referred or localized pain when pressed.

Are Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Fibromyalgia the Same?

The majority of people with unexplained, long-term muscle pain have a higher rate of being diagnosed with either MPS or fibromyalgia. Why not? Well, because fibromyalgia and MPS share a lot of the same symptoms and characteristics. They both cause muscle pain, they both have trigger points, and they both cause fatigue.

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that causes widespread muscle pain that can affect your entire body. On the other hand, MPS causes people to feel localized pain in local groups of muscles, like, your neck, your lower back, or even your jaw, for instance.

MPS trigger points are localized and tender and produce localized pain, while fibromyalgia’s trigger points are associated with many more widespread tender points; these are different because they do not produce referred pain like MPS trigger points do.

Causes and risk factors

A lot of trigger points are activated due to:

• Muscle overuse

• Muscle trauma (injury)

• Psychological stress

Trigger points more often than not occur from continuous reiterative movements, such as typing on a computer, working as a painter, or regularly lifting heavy objects. There is no single reason for developing myofascial trigger points, rather, various compounding underlying factors which may include:

• Obesity

• Smoking

• Insomnia

• Menopause

• Bad posture

• Overall fatigue

• Nutritional inconsistencies

• Extreme lack of movement or exercise

• Mental instability (depression, anxiety)

• Other inflammatory and/or painful conditions

• Intervertebral disks and musculoskeletal system injury

• Sitting in awkward positions for extended amounts of time

• An intense feeling of muscle cooling, like being in front of a fan or an a/c.

Next Step

If you’re living with chronic muscle pain and surgery is not an option, contact your doctor or a pain management specialist to start your road to pain relief. In the meantime, take a look at our blog over here.