Traumatic axillary nerve injury represents less than 1% of all nerve injuries.It is often subclinical because it is masked by the pain due to a shoulder fracture or dislocation, so that treatment is neglected for a long period. When nerve repair and physiotherapy are unsuccessful, trapezius tendon transfer may be considered. Between March 2008 and May 2009, 10 patients with neglected deltoid pa...

BACKGROUND Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common non-articular musculoskeletal disorder. It is characterized by local and referred pain due to the presence of myofascial trigger points (MTrPs). MTrPs most commonly involve the upper trapezius muscle and can be visualized using ultrasound imaging. This study was designed to determine the inter-rater reliability of some new ultrasonographic i...

BACKGROUND Nonspecific neck pain can cause considerable suffering, possible disability and reductions in quality of life and productivity. The aim of the proposed study is to evaluate the immediate effect of acupuncture on pain, cervical range of motion and electromyographic activity of the upper trapezius muscle in patients with nonspecific neck pain. METHODS/DESIGN A total of 12 patients wi...

In an experimental study four levels of oculomotor load were induced binocularly. Trapezius muscle activity was measured with bipolar surface electromyography and normalized to a submaximal contraction. Twenty-eight subjects with a mean age of 29 (range 19-42, std 8) viewed a high-contrast fixation target for four 5-min periods through: (i) -3.5 dioptre (D) lenses; (ii) 0 D lenses; (iii) indivi...

Background: Different research techniques indicate alterations in muscle tissue and in neuromuscular control of aching muscles in patients with chronic localized pain. Ultrasound can be used for analysis of muscle tissue dynamics in clinical practice. Aim: This study introduces a new muscle tissue sensitive ultrasound technique in order to provide a new methodology for providing a description o...

BACKGROUND Musculoskeletal pain in the low back and neck-shoulder regions is a major problem among the working population all over the world. The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain is found to be higher among women. Women also have lower pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) than men. Pressure pain topography aims at mapping the spatial distribution of PPT within a muscle in an attempt to track chang...

BACKGROUND This study compares the levels of algesic substances between subjects with trapezius myalgia (TM) and healthy controls (CON) and explores the multivariate correlation pattern between these substances, pain, and metabolic status together with relative blood flow changes reported in our previous paper (Eur J Appl Physiol 108:657-669, 2010). METHODS 43 female workers with (TM) and 19 ...