Scientific Aspects and Clinical Signs of Muscle Pain—Three Years Later

Objectives: Muscle pain is a frequent concomitant symptom in a variety of neuromuscular disease and the most prominent findings in myofascial pain syndrome, as well as in fibromyalgia syndrome.Findings: Negligible awareness has been focused on pain characteristics in neuromuscular disorders. In the group of inflammatory myopathies, in dermatomyositis, the highest frequency of permanent muscle pain is complained in the shoulder girdle and thigh, and upper arms and legs. Pain quality is reported to be muscle-aching in the majority of patients, but additional different pain characteristics have been documented, including deep, gripping, dull, bright, sharp and superficial. Here small free nerve endings are connected to small blood vessels that show an upregulation of substance P and calcitonine gene related peptide as signs of an increased nociceptive input. Some forms of metabolic myopathies, especially glycogenolytic defects, are characterized by symptoms of stamina, painful contractures with exercise, cra...