Screening and Diagnosis

In order to determine the cause of your pain, your doctor will ask you questions about your signs and symptoms. The area where you're feeling pain may be examined. During the physical exam, your doctor may:

• Feel for trigger points. Your doctor may apply gentle finger pressure to the painful area, feeling for tense areas. Your doctor also watches your reaction to determine when a sensitive area is reached. You may feel a jolt of pain when your doctor finds a trigger point, and you may flinch.
• Manipulate trigger points. Your doctor may apply pressure on or around the trigger points. Certain ways of pressing on (palpating) the trigger point can elicit specific responses. For instance, you may experience a muscle twitch. Your doctor uses these responses to diagnose myofascial pain syndrome.

Muscle pain has many possible causes. Your doctor may recommend other tests and procedures to rule out other causes of muscle pain before diagnosing myofascial pain syndrome.

2007-11-30

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