Changes in the Pressure Threshold of Myofascial Trigger Points Following Freezing Cold Air Application

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of cold air application on the pressure threshold of myofascial trigger points. METHOD: The 60 patients with myofascial trigger points in unilateral infraspinatus muscle were divided into 3 groups with equal number and cold air was applied using CRAis (Kyung-won Century, Korea) for 1, 3 and 5 minutes. We examined the changes of pressure threshold in myofascial trigger points before, immediately after and 30 minutes after cold air application. Also we examined the changes of pressure threshold of contralateral infraspinatus muscles. RESULTS: 1) The pressure threshold of trigger point in infraspinatus muscle were increased immediately and 30 minutes after the cold air application as assessed by the pressure algometer (p0.05). 3) There was no significant correlations among the age, the body mass index and the changes of pressure threshold in myofascial trigger points (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: We conclude that the cold air application is a effective method for treatment of myofascial trigger points.

Changes in the Pressure Threshold of Myofascial Trigger Points of the Shoulder Girdle Muscles Following Stretching Exercise

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a self-stretching exercise on the pressure threshold of myofascial trigger point. METHOD: We examined the changes of pressure threshold in 66 patients with myofascial trigger points before and after a self-stretching exercise of shoulder girdle and also tested the visual analogue scale (VAS) of the subjective pain intensity. The self-stretching exercise of shoulder girdle includes a stretching exercise of four muscles in shoulder girdle simultaneously, including upper trapezius, levator scapulae, infraspinatus, rhomboideus major and minor, which is followed by 1) a sitting position, relaxed, 2) lateral bending of neck to contralateral side, 3) forward and downward stretching of ipsilateral arm with protrusion of scapula and internal rotation of arm maximally to the contralateral foot. Each stretching motion is maintained for 30 seconds. RESULTS: The results of the patients experiencing unilateral or bilateral myofascial neck and shoulder pain showed that the pressure threshold of trigger point increased in response to the self-stretching exercise as assessed by a pressure algometer. Also visual analogue scale (VAS) decreased in response to the self-stretching exercise. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the self-stretching exercise of shoulder girdle is an effective method for the simultaneous stretching of upper trapezius, levator scapulae, infraspinatus, rhomboideus major and minor.