PMID- 16919982
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20070522
LR  - 20070312
IS  - 1090-3801 (Print)
IS  - 1090-3801 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 4
DP  - 2007 May
TI  - Referred pain from trapezius muscle trigger points shares similar characteristics 
      with chronic tension type headache.
PG  - 475-82
AB  - Referred pain and pain characteristics evoked from the upper trapezius muscle was 
      investigated in 20 patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH) and 20 age- 
      and gender-matched controls. A headache diary was kept for 4 weeks in order to 
      confirm the diagnosis and record the pain history. Both upper trapezius muscles 
      were examined for the presence of myofascial trigger points (TrPs) in a blinded 
      fashion. The local and referred pain intensities, referred pain pattern, and 
      pressure pain threshold (PPT) were recorded. The results show that referred pain 
      was evoked in 85% and 50% on the dominant and non-dominant sides in CTTH 
      patients, much higher than 55% and 25% in controls (P<0.01). Referred pain spread 
      to the posterior-lateral aspect of the neck ipsi-lateral to the stimulated muscle 
      in both patients and controls, with additional referral to the temple in most 
      patients, but none in controls. Nearly half of the CTTH patients (45%) recognized 
      the referred pain as their usual headache sensation, i.e. active TrPs. CTTH 
      patients with active TrPs in the right upper trapezius muscle showed greater 
      headache intensity and frequency, and longer headache duration than those with 
      latent TrPs. CTTH patients with bilateral TrPs reported significantly decreased 
      PPT than those with unilateral TrP (P<0.01). Our results showed that manual 
      exploration of TrPs in the upper trapezius muscle elicited referred pain patterns 
      in both CTTH patients and healthy subjects. In CTTH patients, the evoked referred 
      pain and its sensory characteristics shared similar patterns as their habitual 
      headache pain, consistent with active TrPs. Our results suggest that spatial 
      summation of perceived pain and mechanical pain sensitivity exists in CTTH 
      patients.
FAU - Fernandez-de-Las-Penas, Cesar
AU  - Fernandez-de-Las-Penas C
AD  - Department of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Medicine and 
      Rehabilitation of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain. 
      cesarfdlp@yahoo.es
FAU - Ge, Hong-You
AU  - Ge HY
FAU - Arendt-Nielsen, Lars
AU  - Arendt-Nielsen L
FAU - Cuadrado, Maria Luz
AU  - Cuadrado ML
FAU - Pareja, Juan A
AU  - Pareja JA
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20060821
PL  - England
TA  - Eur J Pain
JT  - European journal of pain (London, England)
JID - 9801774
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Chronic Disease
MH  - Female
MH  - Functional Laterality/physiology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Muscle, Skeletal/*physiology
MH  - Myofascial Pain Syndromes/*physiopathology
MH  - Pain Measurement
MH  - Pain Threshold/physiology
MH  - Pain, Referred/*physiopathology
MH  - Pressure
MH  - Tension-Type Headache/*physiopathology
EDAT- 2006/08/22 09:00
MHDA- 2007/05/23 09:00
CRDT- 2006/08/22 09:00
PHST- 2006/01/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2006/07/03 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2006/07/10 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2006/08/22 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2007/05/23 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2006/08/22 09:00 [entrez]
AID - S1090-3801(06)00105-4 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.ejpain.2006.07.005 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Eur J Pain. 2007 May;11(4):475-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpain.2006.07.005. Epub 2006 
      Aug 21.