Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Oct;53(5):575-81.

Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome-a dilemma

H C Chandola  1 , Arunangshu Chakraborty
Affiliations

Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome-a dilemma

H C Chandola et al. Indian J Anaesth. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

Pain and fatigue associated to the musculoskeletal system are among the leading causes of patients to visit their physicians and nearly one-third of such patients suffer from fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic debilitating disorder characterized by widespread pain with tenderness in specific areas, leading to fatigue, headache and sleep disorder. Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS), is also a localized musculoskeletal pain producing condition whose diagnostic and management criteria differ from FMS but still considered by many only a subtype of FMS. Till date no exact cause has been held responsible for these painful conditions, therefore treatment of these disorders is always a challenge. The therapies are not precise but multimodal including pharmacological and alternative approaches. This article describes the existing knowledge pertaining to these conditions in regard of causative factors diagnosis and management.

Keywords: Fibromyalgia; Myofascial pain; Taut bands; Trigger points.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Summary of skeletal muscle structure:
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Robert B Salter. Textbook of disorders and injuries of the musculoskeletal system. 3rd edition. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 1999. Normal structure and function of musculoskeletal tissues; p. 23.
    1. Victoria Wapf, Andre Busato. Main health related problems patients attended their physicians for. BMC complementary and alternative medicine. 2007;7:41.
    1. Schneider M, Veron H, Ko G, Lawson G, et al. Chiropractic management of fibromyalgia syndrome, a systematic review of the literature. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2009;32:25–40. - PubMed
    1. Harris RE, Sundgren PC, Pang Y, Hsu M, et al. Dynamic levels of glutamate within the insula are associated with improvements in multiple pain domains in fibromyalgia. Arthritis Rheum. 2008;58:903–7. - PubMed
    1. ICD version 2007: World Health Organization online resource. http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/ icd10online/