Patients presenting with referred dental orofacial pain are not rare in dental clinics. The most common cause for referred dental craniofacial pain is of odontogenic origin. An accurate diagnosis will depend on a comprehensive clinical exam and dental history review. For differential diagnosis, it is critical to consider both the odontognic and nonodontogenic etiology. Once a correct diagnosis ...

There are relevant clinical overlaps between some of the painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and headache conditions that may hamper the diagnostic process and treatment. A non-systematic search for studies on the relationship between TMD and headaches was carried out in the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase. Important pain mechanisms contributing to the close assoc...

The objective present study was to investigate the presence of low back pain in caregivers of a nursing home, related with the labored activities executed by these workers. 16 subjects were investigated, 15 female and one male, with 40,8 age average all being caregivers as their profession. It consisted of three phases, where the first concerns the analysis of the collective work, assessed in a...

Trigger points associated with myofascial and visceral pains often lie within the areas of referred pain but many are located at a distance from them. Furthermore, brief, intense stimulation of trigger points frequently produces prolonged relief of pain. These properties of trigger points--their widespread distribution and the pain relief produced by stimulating them--resemble those of acupunct...

OBJECTIVES To describe referred pain patterns provoked from intra-pelvic structures in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP) persisting after childbirth with the purpose to improve diagnostics and give implications for treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this descriptive and comparative study 36 parous women with CPP were recruited from a physiotherapy department waiting list and by advertisem...

Neck and head pain syndromes are common problems seen in clinical practice. Pain features of commonly designated idiopathic neck pain and some primary headaches (ie, tension-type headache or migraine) fit the descriptions of referred pain originating in muscle trigger points (TrPs). This article discusses the scientific evidence supporting the role of muscle TrPs in chronic musculo-skeletal dis...

Muscle hyperalgesia and referred pain play an important role in chronic musculoskeletal pain. New knowledge on the involved basic mechanisms and better methods to assess muscle pain in the clinic are needed to revise and optimize treatment regimens. Increased muscle sensitivity is manifested as pain evoked by a normally non-nociceptive stimulus (allodynia), increased pain intensity evoked by no...

BACKGROUND The minimal detectable change (MDC) and the minimal clinically important changes (MCIC) have been explored for nonspecific low back pain patients and are similar across different cultural settings. No data on MDC and MCIC for pain severity are available for neck pain patients. The objectives of this study were to estimate MDC and MCIC for pain severity in subacute and chronic neck pa...

OBJECTIVE To assess the local and referred pain areas and pain characteristics evoked from temporalis muscle trigger points (TrPs) in chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). METHODS Thirty CTTH patients and 30 age and sex-matched controls were studied. A headache diary was kept for 4 weeks to substantiate the diagnosis and record the pain history. Both temporalis muscles were examined for the p...