Myofascial pain
What is myofascial pain?
Fascia is the connective tissue that covers the muscles. Myofascial pain affects the fascia creating pain and inflammation in the soft tissue or muscle, sometimes in unrelated parts of the body. This is called referred pain.
What causes myofascial pain?
Myofascial pain may be the result of muscle overuse, injury, or psychological stress. Trigger points often develop from repetitive activities that cause this pain. Trigger points are sensitive areas that can feel like knots in the muscle and can be identified by pain that results from applied pressure.
What are the symptoms of myofascial pain?
Since myofascial pain is caused by trigger points and not every person will have the same trigger point, symptoms vary but some common ones are:
- Deep pain in a muscle
- Pain that gets worse when specific muscles are used
- A tender know in a muscle
- Muscle pain that doesn't improve over time
- Weak, stiff, inflexible muscles
- Mood or sleep disturbances
How is myofascial pain diagnosed?
Your provider will perform a physical exam to locate your trigger points.
How is it myofascial pain treated?
Your provider will work with you to create a customized treatment plan for myofascial pain, which may consist of:
- Physical therapy
- Dry needling
- Trigger point muscle injections
- Ultrasound therapy
- Massage therapy
- Myofascial release therapy
- Posture training
- Medications
- Applied heat or topicals
Finding an appropriate pain management plan
When determining an appropriate pain management plan, it is important to take the following steps.
When developing an appropriate pain management plan for chronic pain, the most critical factor is to determine the stressor and the cause of the pain. For example, if you are having back pain - where is the pain coming from? Is it related to your posture? Is it related to stress? Maybe you regularly lift heavy objects?
Once the stressor is identified, short-term interventions may be added to your pain management plan to help ease your pain, so you are comfortable enough to make adjustments to your lifestyle. Medications, injections, or surgery are some options that can help reduce inflammation. It is very important to know that opioids should not be used to treat chronic pain - they are not the answer for this type of pain.
The next step is to make lifestyle adjustments. These may include physical and occupational therapy to increase strength, daily exercise, massage therapy, chiropractic care, etc. Treatment with exercise will provide a long-term pain solution.
Inactivity leads to stiff muscles, decreased mobility, and decreased strength - all of these can worsen the symptoms of chronic pain. Gradually becoming more active will improve flexibility, reduce inflammation, and strengthen the muscles around joints.
The first step to finding an appropriate treatment plan for chronic pain is to talk with your primary care provider. If your provider finds it appropriate, referrals can be made to the Pain Clinic at Crossing Rivers Health.
Request a referral to the Pain Clinic