Muscle pain and myofascia

What is myofascial pain and how is it diagnosed? These questions will be answered here...

I started getting new, quite strong pain in my neck and up into my temple. I thought it might be the dreaded Trigeminal Neuralgia (Facial Nerve Pain) that I had heard about so I googled and found a most interesting article which described my pain exactly.

No it was not Trigeminal Neuralgia it was Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) of which I had never heard.

Anyway it convinced me to go to get myofascial treatment which I had heard can help fibro.

Myofascial treatment is a specific type of massage that releases the myofascial tissues. Myo means muscle and fascia means the connective tissue covering the muscles. These connective tissues become tight and painful and need to be released.

Myofascial pain is usually caused in specific tender points that need to be released. It is a constant, deep pain that I would describe as a tender muscle that is held tight. It makes me feel like my legs cannot relax and that I have clenched my muscles so much that they will not let go. I have learnt that it is in a part of my body that I had never heard of... the fascia. Also I learnt that there is a layer of fascia just under the skin and another layer deep in the muscles. 

Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue that surrounds and holds every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber and muscle in place. The tissue does more than provide internal structure; fascia has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin. When stressed, it tightens up. ~ JOHN HOPKINS MEDICINE

I have had my first treatment and have felt some easing of tension in my shoulders and no face pain this week I am pleased to say. I will keep you posted about future treatments. 

Myofascial technique in the lower leg.
Image thanks to StillpointTherapeutic Massage & Bodywork.

How is myofascial pain diagnosed?

The recognition of this syndrome requires a precise understanding of the body's trigger points. Trigger points can be identified by pain that results when pressure is applied to an area of the patient's body. In the diagnosis of myofascial pain syndrome, four types of trigger points can be distinguished:

• An active trigger point is an area of extreme tenderness that usually lies within the skeletal muscle and which is associated with a local or regional pain.
• A latent trigger point is a dormant (inactive) area that has the potential to act like a trigger point.
• A secondary trigger point is a highly irritable spot in a muscle that can become active due to a trigger point and muscular overload in another muscle.
• A satellite myofascial point is a highly irritable spot in a muscle that becomes inactive because the muscle is in the region of another trigger pain. FROM CLEVELAND CLINIC

There is a book explaining the condition called Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Survival Manual which you read my review of here