Das myofasziale Schmerzsyndrom

Background

Pain and/or functional disorders, such as weakness or movement control disorders, often have a myofascial origin. The pathophysiological substrates of myofascial problems are myofascial trigger points (mTrP) and reactive connective tissue alterations. Typical for myofascial pain is that the site of the origin of pain and the site of pain perception often do not lie in the same place (referred pain). Myofascial disorders can have a primary or a secondary cause and often make a substantial contribution to stimulus summation problems. In the process of clinical reasoning it needs to be investigated what value mTrP and fascial alterations have for the current problem in question (e.g. primary, secondary and contribution to stimulus summation).

Methods

The causal and sustained therapy of myofascial disorders considers the contractile part of muscle (contracture knots) as well as the noncontractile parts (reactive connective tissue alterations). Predisposition and maintaining factors have to be recognized and if possible included in the therapy, depending on the necessity. The trigger point therapy IMTT® (“Interessengemeinschaft für Myofasziale Triggerpunkt-Therapie”) encompasses manual techniques and if necessary dry needling for deactivation of the disruption potential of mTrP, stretching/detonization and functional training/ergonomics.