SynthesisAmerican journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation2021
Assessment of Myofascial Trigger Points via Imaging: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intramuscular electrical stimulation added to home exercise for myofascial shoulder pain: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Adapting Tension-Type Headache to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) Taxonomy: A Conceptual Proposal.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Validity, Reliability, and Responsiveness of a New Device for Measuring Pressure Pain Thresholds.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Utility of Surface Electromyography for Identifying Muscles Affected by Myofascial Trigger Points: A Scoping Review.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Quantitative Understanding of Advanced Novel Imaging Techniques for Fasciitis and Biosignature Yield (Quantify): Protocol for a Cross-Sectional Diagnostic Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- When therapy remains as much in the shadows as diagnosis: an evaluation of methodological and terminological uncertainties in muscle trigger point injections.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Article
- Electrical muscle stimulation towards self-physiotherapy on myofascial pain syndrome.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Article
- Anatomical study of peroneal longus and brevis innervation and its spatial relationship with trigger points.Acta cirurgica brasileira · 2026Article
- Anatomical study of the innervation of the tibialis anterior muscle and its relationship with myofascial trigger points.Acta cirurgica brasileira · 2026Article
- Evaluation of the inter-examiner reliability of myofascial trigger point identification in dogs.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Article
- The State of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy for Myofascial Pain Syndrome-A Scoping Review and a Call for Standardized Protocols.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Musculoskeletal mimics of lumbosacral radiculopathy.Muscle & nerve · 2025Review
- Use and applicability of magnetic resonance elastography of the lumbar spine in adults: a scoping review.BMC medical imaging · 2025Article
- The Temporal Associations of Neck Pain and Headache - Implications for the Diagnostic Approach to the Myofascial Involvement in Migraine.Journal of central nervous system disease · 2025Article
- Article
- The Use and Benefits of Focused Shockwaves for the Diagnosis of Myofascial Pain Syndrome by Examining Myofascial Trigger Points in Low Back Pain.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Re: Re: Casting light on the overlooked trigger point of the interosseous muscles in metatarsalgia: insights and treatment strategies.Ultrasonography (Seoul, Korea) · 2024Article
- Re: Casting light on the overlooked trigger point of the interosseous muscles in metatarsalgia: insights and treatment strategies.Ultrasonography (Seoul, Korea) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
abstractThis study systematically reviewed the published literature on the objective characterization of myofascial pain syndrome and myofascial trigger points using imaging methods. PubMed, Embase, Ovid, and the Cochrane Library databases were used, whereas citation searching was conducted in Scopus. Citations were restricted to those published in English and in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2021. Of 1762 abstracts screened, 69 articles underwent full-text review, and 33 were included. Imaging data assessing myofascial trigger points or myofascial pain syndrome were extracted, and important qualitative and quantitative information on general study methodologies, study populations, sample sizes, and myofascial trigger point/myofascial pain syndrome evaluation were tabulated. Methodological quality of eligible studies was assessed based on the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies criteria. Biomechanical properties and blood flow of active and latent myofascial trigger points assessed via imaging were found to be quantifiably distinct from those of healthy tissue. Although these studies show promise, more studies are needed. Future studies should focus on assessing diagnostic test accuracy and testing the reproducibility of results to establish the best performing methods. Increasing methodological consistency would further motivate implementing imaging methods in larger clinical studies. Considering the evidence on efficacy, cost, ease of use and time constraints, ultrasound-based methods are currently the imaging modalities of choice for myofascial pain syndrome/myofascial trigger point assessment.
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Registered trials
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