This article will explore our current understanding of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) from both traditional and alternative perspectives, and will offer management options that can substantially improve treatment outcomes of patients suffering from this insidious condition. Understanding FMS is a tall order because there are so many possible causes for it, and because it can involve so many system...

Chronic muscle pain (myalgia) is a common problem throughout the world. Seemingly simple, it is actually a difficult problem for the clinician interested in determining the aetiology of the pain, as well as in managing the pain. The two common muscle pain conditions are fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome. Fibromyalgia is a chronic, widespread muscle tenderness syndrome, associated with c...

Needling therapy has been widely used for pain control. " Needling " includes all procedures with penetration of a needle through the skin with injection of medication (injection therapy) or without introduction of any drug (dry needling). In either injection or dry needling, the site of treatment can be at the site of pain (direct needling) or far from the site of pain (remote needling). Needl...

opioids are widely used for the treatment of malignant and non-malignant pains. these medications are accompanied by adverse effects, in particular gastrointestinal symptoms known as opioid bowel dysfunction (obd). the most common symptom of obd is refractory constipation that is usually stable regardless of the use of laxatives. narcotic bowel syndrome (nbs) is a subset of obd described as amb...

Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is one of the common musculoskeletal conditions of the shoulder which may develop sensory-motor and autonomic dysfunctions at the various level of the neuromuscular system. The pain and dysfunction caused by MPS were primarily treated with physical therapy and pharmacological agents in order to achieve painfree movements. However, in recent years intramuscular ele...

BACKGROUND Myofascial pain is defined as pain that originates from myofascial trigger points in skeletal muscle. It is prevalent in regional musculoskeletal pain syndromes, either alone or in combination with other pain generators. The myofascial pain syndrome is one of the largest groups of under-diagnosed and under-treated medical problems encountered in clinical practice. Trigger points are ...

OBJECTIVES To assess the occurrence and persistence of two restrictively defined neck-shoulder disorders among sewing machine operators. To assess factors associated with the development of neck-shoulder disorder and prognostic factors for remaining a case, when disorders were already present. METHODS In an initial group of 243 sewing machine operators, 178 were followed up for 2 years. At ba...

Low back pain in patients with myofascial pain syndrome is characterized by painful active myofascial trigger points (ATPs) in muscles. This article reviews a novel, noninvasive modality that combines simultaneous imaging and treatment, thus taking advantage of the electrodermal information available from imaged ATPs to deliver localized neurostimulation, to stimulate peripheral nerve endings (...

This article provides arguments for and against the classification of low back pain (LBP) as a disease or health condition. Based on basic definitions health, disease, illness, sickness, infirmity, pain, little support has been found idea that LBP represents specific entity. Although specified pains do not signify experienced may be caused by diseases, such inflammation, neuropathy, fractures, ...