BACKGROUND Infrared thermography is recognized as a viable method for evaluation of subjects with myofascial pain. OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to assess the intra- and inter-rater reliability of infrared image analysis of myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle. METHOD A reliability study was conducted with 24 volunteers of both genders (23 females) between 18...

OBJECTIVE To offer the basic data about the causes and distribution of hand tingling, symptoms and physical findings, and pressure pain threshold in desk workers. METHODS Five physiatrists participated in the screening test composed of history and physical examination. A total of 876 desk workers were evaluated and of them 37 subjects with hand tingling were selected. For further analyzing, d...

Background. The aim of the present study was to assess the immediate effects of auricular acupuncture (AA) on the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the upper trapezius muscle and pain in nonspecific neck pain (NS-NP) patients. Twelve patients with NS-NP (NS-NP group) and 12 healthy subjects (HS Group) were enrolled in a randomized, single-blinded, crossover study. Each subject received a sing...

BACKGROUND Scapulothoracic muscle activity is believed to be important for normal scapulothoracic motion. In particular, the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles are believed to play an important role in the production and control of scapulothoracic motion. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different levels of muscle activity (active versus passive arm elevation) on three...

Objectives. To demonstrate the use of acupuncture in the lower limbs to treat myofascial pain of the upper trapezius muscles via a remote effect. Methods. Five adults with latent myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) of bilateral upper trapezius muscles received acupuncture at Weizhong (UB40) and Yanglingquan (GB34) points in the lower limbs. Modified acupuncture was applied at these points on a ra...

This study aimed to evaluate whether there is an association between facial morphology on cephalometrics and surface electromyographic (sEMG) recordings of the head, neck, and trunk muscles. Forty-seven Caucasian adult females, 18-29years of age (average: 24), underwent lateral skull radiographs in "natural head position", obtained by having the subject look at a small mirror at eye level, and ...

[Purpose] This study aimed to examine the immediate effects of diaphragm taping with breathing exercise on the tone and stiffness in the respiratory muscles of patient with stroke. [Subjects and Methods] A total of 28 subjects, 14 in the diaphragm taping with breathing exercise group and 14 in the breathing exercise group, were administered respective intervention methods. Subsequently, the mus...

[Purpose] This study measured %isolation and investigated whether it shows a difference between the presence and absence of wrist joint restriction, as well as changes in muscle activity patterns. [Methods] Twenty subjects performed upper extremity functional movement in the Manual Function Test (MFT) with and without wrist restriction, and the muscle activities of the trapezius, middle deltoid...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of trigger point injection with or without ischemic compression in treatment of myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle. METHODS SIXTY PATIENTS WITH ACTIVE MYOFASCIAL TRIGGER POINTS IN UPPER TRAPEZIUS MUSCLE WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS: group 1 (n=20) received only trigger point injections, group 2 (n=20) received trigger point ...