Reliability of Physical Examination for Diagnosis of Myofascial Trigger Points: A Systematic Review of the Literature

@article{Lucas2009ReliabilityOP,
  title={Reliability of Physical Examination for Diagnosis of Myofascial Trigger Points: A Systematic Review of the Literature},
  author={Nicholas Lucas and Petra Macaskill and Les M. Irwig and Robert W Moran and Nikolai Bogduk},
  journal={The Clinical Journal of Pain},
  year={2009},
  volume={25},
  pages={80-89}
}
Background Trigger points are promoted as an important cause of musculoskeletal pain. There is no accepted reference standard for the diagnosis of trigger points, and data on the reliability of physical examination for trigger points are conflicting. Objectives To systematically review the literature on the reliability of physical examination for the diagnosis of trigger points. Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE, and other sources were searched for articles reporting the reliability of physical… Expand
View on Wolters Kluwer
dryneedlingcourse.com
255 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
9
Background Citations
51
Methods Citations
17
Results Citations
5

Paper Mentions

Interventional Clinical Trial
Trigger Point Dry Needling vs Trigger Point Dry Needling With Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation
trigger point dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation vs trigger point dry needling  
ConditionsSub-acute and Chronic Low Back Pain
InterventionDevice
William Beaumont Army Medical Center
April 2017 - November 2017
Blog Post
A tale of two taping papers
SaveYourself.ca
20 November 2013

255 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Interrater Agreement of Manual Palpation for Identification of Myofascial Trigger Points: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
TLDR
Use of manual palpation for identification of myofascial trigger points is unreliable, and future investigation should focus on integration with more reliable techniques. Expand
Reliability of physical examination tests used in the assessment of patients with shoulder problems: a systematic review.
TLDR
There is no consistent evidence that any examination procedure used in shoulder assessments has acceptable levels of reliability, and alternate methods of classification which are reliable should be used to classify patients with shoulder problems. Expand
The prevalence of myofascial trigger points in neck and shoulder-related disorders: a systematic review of the literature
TLDR
Limited evidence was found supporting the high prevalence of active and latent MTrPs in patients with neck or shoulder disorders, but point prevalence estimates were based on a small number of studies with very low sample sizes and with design limitations that increased risk of bias within included studies. Expand
Validity and Reliability of Clinical Examination in the Diagnosis of Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Myofascial Trigger Points in Upper Quarter Muscles
TLDR
Interrater reliability between two expert examiners identifying subjects with MPS involving upper quarter muscles exhibited substantial agreement, which suggests that clinical criteria can be valid and reliable in the diagnosis of this condition. Expand
Assessment of Myofascial Trigger Points via Imaging
TLDR
Considering the evidence on efficacy, cost, ease of use and time constraints, US-based methods are currently the imaging modalities of choice for MPS/MTrP assessment. Expand
Criteria Used for the Diagnosis of Myofascial Trigger Points in Clinical Trials on Physical Therapy
TLDR
An updated systematic review of diagnostic criteria for myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) used in clinical trials of physical therapy interventions from 2007 to 2019 found a lack of transparency in the reporting of MTrP diagnostic criteria is present in the literature. Expand
Prevalence of Myofascial Trigger Points in Spinal Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
TLDR
The MTrPs point prevalence estimates in this review should be viewed with caution because future studies with large samples and high methodologic quality are likely to change them substantially. Expand
Reliability of trigger points evaluation in the lower leg muscles.
TLDR
Physical examination is a reliable method of trigger point evaluation in lower leg muscles, and it can be used as a diagnostic method fortrigger point evaluation. Expand
Interrater Reliability in the Clinical Evaluation of Myofascial Trigger Points in Three Ankle Muscles.
TLDR
The results of this study showed that expert raters can agree, with slight-to-moderate concordance, with regard to the clinical testing of muscle trigger points by direct palpation of the 3 muscles studied: the tibialis anterior, the extensor digitorum longus, and the peroneus brevis. Expand
An update of the appraisal of the accuracy and utility of cervical discography in chronic neck pain.
TLDR
Cervical provocation discography may be an important evaluation tool in certain contexts to identify a subset of patients with chronic neck pain secondary to intervertebral disc disorders, according to the current systematic review. Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 73 REFERENCES
The effectiveness of non-invasive treatments for active myofascial trigger point pain: A systematic review of the literature
TLDR
There is a significant evidence that laser therapy may be effective as a short-term intervention for reducing pain intensity in myofascial trigger point pain of the neck and upper back and preliminary evidence suggests that magnet therapy may been effective, however, further studies are needed to support the findings. Expand
Reliability of procedures used in the physical examination of non-specific low back pain: a systematic review.
TLDR
Most procedures commonly used by clinicians in the examination of patients with back pain demonstrate low reliability. Expand
Variability of Criteria Used to Diagnose Myofascial Trigger Point Pain Syndrome—Evidence From a Review of the Literature
TLDR
Until reliable diagnostic criteria have been established, there is a need for greater transparency in research papers on how a case of MTrP pain syndrome is defined, and claims for effective interventions in treating the condition should be viewed with caution. Expand
Interrater reliability in myofascial trigger point examination
TLDR
An initial attempt to establish the interrater reliability of the trigger point examination that failed, and a second study by the same examiners that included a training period and that successfully established interRater reliability in the diagnosis of the MTrP are reported. Expand
Interrater Reliability of Palpation of Myofascial Trigger Points in Three Shoulder Muscles
TLDR
Preliminary evidence that MTrP palpation is a reliable and, therefore, potentially useful diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of myofascial pain in patients with non-traumatic shoulder pain is provided. Expand
Manual therapies in myofascial trigger point treatment: a systematic review
TLDR
The hypothesis that manual therapies have specific efficacy, beyond placebo, in the management of MPS is neither supported nor refuted by research to date, which suggests the need to include ROM measurements in future studies. Expand
Inter-examiner reliability of passive assessment of intervertebral motion in the cervical and lumbar spine: a systematic review.
TLDR
Overall, inter-examiner reliability of passive assessment of segmental intervertebral motion in the cervical and lumbar spine was poor to fair and most studies were found to be of poor methodological quality. Expand
Intertester reliability of judgments of the presence of trigger points in patients with low back pain.
TLDR
The usefulness of examining for the presence of trigger points in patients with low back pain should be questioned and the low Kappa and Ppos values suggest different therapists are unable to reliably determine when a trigger point is present in a patient with LBP. Expand
Test-retest reliability of myofascial trigger point detection in patients with rotator cuff tendonitis
TLDR
The presence or absence of the taut band, spot tenderness, jump sign and pain recognition was highly reliable between sessions and Referred pain and local twitch response reliability varied depending on the muscle being studied. Expand
Manual examination of the spine: a systematic critical literature review of reproducibility.
TLDR
Critically analyzes the literature pertaining to the inter- and intraobserver reproducibility of spinal palpation to investigate the consistency of study results and assess the level of evidence for reproducecibility. Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...