MRE Could Provide A Definitive Diagnosis For People With Muscle Pain, Study Shows

"Additional examination is necessary, but our findings in this guide study provide a strong basis to think that MRE technology can identify changes in muscle style and stiffness that could previously sole be identified by physical examination through . a physician or a therapist," says Jeffrey Basford, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic specialist in material medicine and rehabilitation and an inventor of the study. "Prior to these findings, we did not have a gracious diagnostic test for myofascial pain syndrome."

An MRE employs scale MRI equipment with a few modifications, and works by measuring the wavelength of vibrations sent end the tissues. A vibrating metal dish is placed on the patient causing muscles to epitomize and stiffen. When this occurs, researchers can measure the elasticity of muscles and detect abnormal hardening of tissues, which in myofasical vexation syndrome can cause pain.

The MRE technique is heart applied to the diagnosis of other diseases, of that kind as liver disease and could likewise be used to diagnose breast cancer and other tumors, that tend to be harder than the surrounding normal tissue.

Myofascial pain syndrome is at intervals confused with fibromyalgia, but the two provisions are clinically different. Fibromyalgia is a inveterate condition typically characterized by widespread trouble in muscles, ligaments and tendons, in the manner that well as fatigue and multiple present points. Myofascial pain syndrome, is a greater degree of localized pain that is associated through trigger point tenderness. A trigger peculiarity is a small lump in a company of tight muscle that, when pressed, triggers a reproducible example of referred pain.

"In the out of the reach of, myofasical pain syndrome has been excessively difficult to diagnose. These new findings may be the next step in opposition to a diagnosis and in the hereafter may help to refine treatment options," Dr. Basford says.

In more chronic cases of myofascial pain, combinations of pertaining to physics therapy and trigger point injections are needed to aid pain. In addition, the condition is sometimes treated with the "spray and course" technique, which involves spraying the muscle and trigger sharp end with a coolant and then slowly stretching the muscle.

The study was funded through . the National Institutes of Health.

Other Mayo Clinic collaborators comprise Kai-Nan An, Ph.D.; Sabine Bensamoun, Ph.D.; Qingshan Chen; and Jeffrey Thompson, M.D.