title: Changes in pain and pressure pain sensitivity after manual treatment of active trigger points in patients with unilateral shoulder impingement: a case series. Test-retest reliability of myofascial trigger point detection in patients with rotator cuff tendonitis Active myofascial trigger points might be more frequent in patients with cervical radiculopathy. The feasibility of creating a checklist for the assessment of the methodological quality both of randomised and non-randomised studies of health care interventions. Inclusion of trigger point dry needling in a multimodal physical therapy program for postoperative shoulder pain: a randomized clinical trial. Upper cervical mobility, posture and myofascial trigger points in subjects with episodic migraine: Case-control study. High prevalence of shoulder girdle muscles with myofascial trigger points in patients with shoulder pain
abstract: The aim of this case series was to investigate changes in pain and pressure pain sensitivity after manual treatment of active trigger points ( TrPs ) in the shoulder muscles in individuals with unilateral shoulder impingement . Twelve patients ( 7 men , 5 women , age : 25 ± 9 years ) diagnosed with unilateral shoulder impingement attended 4 sessions for 2 weeks ( 2 sessions/week ) . They received TrP pressure release and neuromuscular interventions over each active TrP that was found . The outcome measures were pain during arm elevation ( visual analogue scale , VAS ) and pressure pain thresholds ( PPT ) over levator scapulae , supraspinatus infraspinatus , pectoralis major , and tibialis anterior muscles . Pain was captured pre-intervention and at a 1-month follow-up , whereas PPT were assessed pre- and post-treatment , and at a 1-month follow-up . Patients experienced a significant ( P < 0.001 ) reduction in pain after treatment ( mean ± SD : 1.3 ± 0.5 ) with a large effect size ( d > 1 ) . In addition , patients also experienced a significant increase in PPT immediate after the treatment ( P < 0.05 ) and one month after discharge ( P < 0.01 ) , with effect sizes ranging from moderate ( d = 0.4 ) to large ( d > 1).A significant negative association ( r(s ) = -0.525 ; P = 0.049 ) between the increase in PPT over the supraspinatus muscle and the decrease in pain was found : the greater the decrease in pain , the greater the increase in PPT . This case series has shown that manual treatment of active muscle TrPs can help to reduce shoulder pain and pressure sensitivity in shoulder impingement . Current findings suggest that active TrPs in the shoulder musculature may contribute directly to shoulder complaint and sensitization in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome , although future r and omized controlled trials are required Objectives : To investigate the test-retest reliability of the following clinical diagnostic characteristics of myofascial trigger points : taut b and , spot tenderness , jump sign , pain recognition , referred pain and local twitch responses ( LTRs ) . Design : Test-retest reliability study . Setting : This study was undertaken in an outpatient physiotherapy department . Subjects : Fifty-eight patients ( 31 males and 27 females ) with rotator cuff tendonitis were recruited into this study . Intervention : Rotator cuff muscles were assessed by an expert for the presence or absence of the main clinical diagnostic characteristics of trigger point assessment . The process was then repeated three days later by the same expert . Main measures : Outcomes included the presence or absence of : a taut b and , spot tenderness , jump sign , pain recognition , referred pain and LTRs . Results : Kappa values between testing situations for the taut b and , spot tenderness , jump sign and pain recognition were 1 . Kappa scores for referred pain ranged between 0.79 and 0.88 and for the local twitch response between 0.75 and 1 depending on the muscles under investigation . Conclusions : The presence or absence of the taut b and , spot tenderness , jump sign and pain recognition was highly reliable between sessions . Referred pain and local twitch response reliability varied depending on the muscle being studied BACKGROUND Myofascial trigger points ( MTrPs ) are commonly observed in the neck , parascapular region , and upper back muscles of patients with cervical pathology . AIM To assess the frequency of latent and active myofascial trigger point ( aMTrP ) in the neck and upper back muscles in patients with cervical radiculopathy and healthy subjects . DESIGN Controlled clinical trials . SETTING Out patients and controls . POPULATION Two hundred and forty four patients and 122 controls METHODS The patients clinical ly diagnosed as cervical radiculopathy with positive Spurling 's test and confirmed by MRI , were enrolled in this study . All subjects were examined for active and latent MTrP. In patients with cervical radiculopathy , an aMTrP was distinguished from a latent one when the referred pain elicited by exploration of the MTrP is recognized as familiar . RESULTS The patients comprised of 128 female ( 52.5 % ) and 116 male ( 47.5 % ) patients . Mean age was 44.58(20 - 65 years ) . In 125 ( 51.2 % ) of patients with cervical radiculopathy were found an aMTrP at least one muscle from upper trapezius , multifidus , splenius capitis , levator scapulae , rhomboid major , minor and deep paraspinal muscles . Number and distribution of MTrPs in patients with 244 cervical radiculopathy and in healthy controls .  aMTrPs were detected most common in levator scapula ( 16.3 % ) , splenius capitis ( 14.7 % ) , rhomboid minor ( 14.3 % ) , upper part of trapezius ( 13.5 % ) , rhomboid major ( 10.2 % ) and multifidus ( 8.6 % ) muscles . Patients with cervical radiculopathy showed latent MTrP in levator scapula ( 27 % ) , splenius capitis ( 16.8 % ) , rhomboid minor ( 24.6 % ) , upper part of trapezius ( 33.2 % ) , rhomboid major ( 9 % ) and multifidus ( 8.2 % ) muscles . There was significant difference in terms of distribution of active and latent MTrPs in patients with cervical radiculopathy ( P=0.019 ) . Number of latent MTrPs in upper trapezius muscles in patients with cervical radiculopathy was more than the expected distribution . None of the subjects of control group had aMTrP. However , healthy controls showed latent MTrP in levator scapula ( 33.6 % ) , splenius capitis ( 16.4 % ) , rhomboid minor ( 21.3 % ) , upper part of trapezius ( 40.2 % ) , rhomboid major ( 6.5 % ) and multifidus ( 17.2 % ) muscles . There was no significant difference in terms of distribution of latent MTrPs between cervical radiculopathy and control groups ( P=0.249 ) . The frequency of aMTrP was found to be significantly higher in CDH with median localization as compared to posterolateral herniations ( P=0.041 ) . After conservative treatment for two weeks , number of patients with active MTrP in cervical radiculopathy were decreased about 50 % . CONCLUSION Cervical root compression would be considered as the starting or maintaining factor of aMTrP. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT The treatment of cervical radiculopathy might be facilitated the improving in aMTrPs located in aforementioned muscles OBJECTIVE : To test the feasibility of creating a valid and reliable checklist with the following features : appropriate for assessing both r and omised and non-r and omised studies ; provision of both an overall score for study quality and a profile of scores not only for the quality of reporting , internal validity ( bias and confounding ) and power , but also for external validity . DESIGN : A pilot version was first developed , based on epidemiological principles , review s , and existing checklists for r and omised studies . Face and content validity were assessed by three experienced review ers and reliability was determined using two raters assessing 10 r and omised and 10 non-r and omised studies . Using different raters , the checklist was revised and tested for internal consistency ( Kuder-Richardson 20 ) , test-retest and inter-rater reliability ( Spearman correlation coefficient and sign rank test ; kappa statistics ) , criterion validity , and respondent burden . MAIN RESULTS : The performance of the checklist improved considerably after revision of a pilot version . The Quality Index had high internal consistency ( KR-20 : 0.89 ) as did the subscales apart from external validity ( KR-20 : 0.54 ) . Test-retest ( r 0.88 ) and inter-rater ( r 0.75 ) reliability of the Quality Index were good . Reliability of the subscales varied from good ( bias ) to poor ( external validity ) . The Quality Index correlated highly with an existing , established instrument for assessing r and omised studies ( r 0.90 ) . There was little difference between its performance with non-r and omised and with r and omised studies . Raters took about 20 minutes to assess each paper ( range 10 to 45 minutes ) . CONCLUSIONS : This study has shown that it is feasible to develop a checklist that can be used to assess the method ological quality not only of r and omised controlled trials but also non-r and omised studies . It has also shown that it is possible to produce a checklist that provides a profile of the paper , alerting review ers to its particular method ological strengths and weaknesses . Further work is required to improve the checklist and the training of raters in the assessment of external validity OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of including 1 session of trigger point dry needling ( TrP-DN ) into a multimodal physiotherapy treatment on pain and function in postoperative shoulder pain . METHODS Twenty patients ( 5 male ; 15 female ; age , 58 ± 12 years ) with postoperative shoulder pain after either open reduction and internal fixation with Proximal Humeral Internal Locking System plate plate or rotator cuff tear repair were r and omly divided into 2 groups : physiotherapy group ( n = 10 ) who received best evidence physical therapy interventions and a physical therapy plus TrP-DN group ( n = 10 ) who received the same intervention plus a single session of TrP-DN targeted at active TrPs .  The Constant-Murley score was used to determine pain , activities of daily living , range of motion , and strength , which was captured at baseline and 1 week after by an assessor blinded to group assignment . RESULTS Analysis of variance showed that subjects receiving TrP-DN plus physical therapy exhibited greater improvement in the Constant-Murley total score ( P < .001 ) and also activities of daily living ( P < .001 ) and strength ( P = .019 ) subscales than those receiving physical therapy alone . Between-group effect sizes were large in favor of the TrP-DN group ( 0.97 < SMD < 1.45 ) . Both groups experienced similar improvements in pain ( P < .001 ) and range of motion ( P < .001 ) . CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that including a single session of TrP-DN in the first week of a multimodal physical therapy approach may assist with faster increases in function in individuals with postoperative shoulder pain OBJECTIVES To evaluate the association between episodic migraines and the prevalence of myofascial trigger points ( MTrPs ) in the sternocleidomastoid and upper trapezius , forward head posture ( FHP ) , neck range of motion ( ROM ) and cervical facet joint stiffness . METHODS 20 physiotherapy students with episodic migraines and 20 age- and sex matched healthy controls were included in this observational case-control study . Demographics and headache status were evaluated through question naires . Active neck ROM , presence of MTrPs , and cervical facet joint mobility were assessed by physical examination . FHP was measured using a lateral digital photograph taken in a sitting position . RESULTS No significant differences were found in neck ROM measurements and FHP between the migraine and control groups . Significant differences were found in the prevalence of cervical facet joints stiffness in Occiput-C1 ( χ(2 ) = 4.444 , p = 0.035 ) and C1-C2 ( χ(2 ) = 10.157 , p = 0.001 ) , but not in other segments . Significant differences were found in the prevalence of active and latent MTrPs between the migraine and control subjects in the right trapezius ( χ(2 ) = 11.649 , p = 0.003 ) and right sternocleidomastoid ( χ(2 ) = 8.485 , p = 0.014 ) . CONCLUSIONS Our findings support the hypothesis that the prevalence of MTrPs in neck muscles and hypomobility in the upper cervical facet joints are associated with migraines Background Shoulder pain is reported to be highly prevalent and tends to be recurrent or persistent despite medical treatment . The pathophysiological mechanisms of shoulder pain are poorly understood . Furthermore , there is little evidence supporting the effectiveness of current treatment protocol s. Although myofascial trigger points ( MTrPs ) are rarely mentioned in relation to shoulder pain , they may present an alternative underlying mechanism , which would provide new treatment targets through MTrP inactivation . While previous research has demonstrated that trained physiotherapists can reliably identify MTrPs in patients with shoulder pain , the percentage of patients who actually have MTrPs remains unclear . The aim of this observational study was to assess the prevalence of muscles with MTrPs and the association between MTrPs and the severity of pain and functioning in patients with chronic non-traumatic unilateral shoulder pain . Methods An observational study was conducted . Subjects were recruited from patients participating in a controlled trial study ing the effectiveness of physical therapy on patients with unilateral non-traumatic shoulder pain .  Sociodemographic and patient-reported symptom scores , including the Disabilities of the Arm , Shoulder , and H and ( DASH ) Question naire , and Visual Analogue Scales for Pain were compared with other studies . To test for differences in age , gender distribution , and education level between the current study population and the population s from Dutch shoulder studies , the one sample T-test was used . One observer examined all subjects ( n = 72 ) for the presence of MTrPs . Frequency distributions , means , medians , st and ard deviations , and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated for descriptive purpose s. The Spearman 's rank-order correlation ( ρ ) was used to test for association between variables . Results MTrPs were identified in all subjects . The median number of muscles with MTrPs per subject was 6 ( active MTrPs ) and 4 ( latent MTrPs ) . Active MTrPs were most prevalent in the infraspinatus ( 77 % ) and the upper trapezius muscles ( 58 % ) , whereas latent MTrPs were most prevalent in the teres major ( 49 % ) and anterior deltoid muscles ( 38 % ) . The number of muscles with active MTrPs was only moderately correlated with the DASH score . Conclusion The prevalence of muscles containing active and latent MTrPs in a sample of patients with chronic non-traumatic shoulder pain was high
target: Findings revealed that active and latent MTrPs were prevalent throughout all disorders , however , latent MTrPs did not consistently have a higher prevalence compared to healthy controls .
  Conclusions We found limited evidence supporting the high prevalence of active and latent MTrPs in patients with neck or shoulder disorders .
background: Background Neck and shoulder disorders may be linked to the presence of myofascial trigger points ( MTrPs ) .
  These disorders can significantly impact a person ’s activities of daily living and ability to work .
  MTrPs can be involved with pain sensitization , contributing to acute or chronic neck and shoulder musculoskeletal disorders .
  The aim of this review was to synthesis e evidence on the prevalence of active and latent MTrPs in subjects with neck and shoulder disorders .