You don’t have broken bones. You didn’t strain a muscle or a tendon or sprain a ligament. Your joints seem fine. You have no arthritis, as far as you or any doctor can tell, at least not in the area that now plagues you.
So why do you always hurt? If one part of your body has felt achy or sore, you may have a condition called myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). “Myo” refers to your muscles. “Fascial” refers to the thin membrane that covers your muscles, which is called fascia.
Our skilled and compassionate rheumatologists at the Rheumatology Center of New Jersey take your pain seriously.
If you have chronic pain that seems to have come out of nowhere, but refuses to budge, we conduct a thorough investigation at one of our offices in Monroe, Flemington, or Somerville, New Jersey, and then design a treatment plan.
Could MPS be the reason you hurt? Read on to see if the signs and symptoms of MPS apply to your pain.
Fibromyalgia is another musculoskeletal pain condition that’s frustrating to live with, diagnose, and treat. But those with fibromyalgia tend to feel pain all over their bodies.
If you have MPS, it’s not your entire body that hurts. It’s one frustrating spot that never seems to feel relaxed or comfortable.
Another sign of MPS is that the pain tends to be related to distinct trigger points. Trigger points are little knots of traumatized muscles that feel stiff and painful when you press on them.
When you try to relieve your pressure points of pain, does it hurt even more? You may have MPS.
Even though the balance of your pain may be located at your trigger points in one area of your body, you may feel pain in other areas, too. This referred pain may affect your:
Again, the pain should be limited to just one or two referred areas. If your entire body hurts, you may have fibromyalgia instead.
Another sign of MPS is pain that keeps you up or wakes you up when you try to sleep. That disrupted sleep may make you feel drowsy and foggy during the day.
In addition, living with chronic pain takes a toll on your body and its energy stores. If you have MPS, you may feel chronically fatigued, too, regardless of how well you slept.
Trigger points often develop in areas that are chronically stressed. If you perform the same movement over and over due to your job, hobby, or sport, you may develop MPS. Some activities that could cause MPS are:
Your pain may be so intense that you can no longer perform the activities you love or need to do for your job. In addition to pain relief, you may need to learn modifications to repetitive tasks so you don’t worsen or reinjure your trigger points.
In yet another one of those vicious cycles, if you’re under chronic stress, you’re more likely to develop MPS. And once you live with a chronic pain condition, you’re more likely to get stressed.
Try to manage stress in your life with exercise and relaxing breath techniques. Move frequently. Take time to breathe fully and exhale slowly. Let your body unwind and relax: Often, people with MPS hold tension in their jaw, neck, or shoulders.
