The prevalence of cervical myofascial pain syndrome and its correlation with pain and disability in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain

Object: Nonspecific chronic neck pain is increasing according to work-related gestures and modern lifestyles. Myofascial pain syndrome is a common problem and may be a primary disease- not necessarily secondary to other disorders. We enrolled this study to evaluate the prevalence of cervical Myofascial pain syndrome in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain that had a normal magnetic resonance imaging study. We also examined the correlation between patients’ age, pain severity and duration. Methods: Patients having neck pain radiating to their upper extremity were examined despite normal MRI findings. We evaluated 10 different muscles based on Myofascial pain syndrome criteria and also recorded Pain intensity and functional ability by visual analogue scale and neck disability index, respectively. A physical therapist, having at least 10 years of clinical experience with Myofascial pain syndrome, performed all physical examinations. Results: 126 patients (fem= 69, mal=57) participated in this study. 14 patients (11.1%) had no muscular involvement, while 112 cases (88.9%) revealed at least one trigger point. Infraspinatus and scalene muscles were the most commonly involved muscles accounting for 38.9% and 34.9% of all the involvements, respectively. The amount of pain was significantly associated with the disability of the patients (r=0.64, p0.001>). However, the correlation between pain and the number of trigger points was not significant (r=-0.19, p=0.31). Finally, the least significantly correlated variables were disability and the number of trigger points (r=-0.17, p=0.05). Patients’ age was significantly correlated neither with the number of trigger points (r=-0.04, p=0.62), nor with the pain duration (r=0.07, p=0.39). Conclusion: Myofascial pain syndrome is a common disorder in patients with nonspecific chronic neck pain, despite normal MRI findings. Although, pain is not correlated with the number of trigger points in these patients, we demonstrated a small correlation between patients’ disability and the later variable.