A Novel Physical Therapy Method of Treating Myofascial Pain Due to Muscle Spasm and Shortening

摘要

AIM: Evaluation of the effect of a novel physical therapy method - post-isometric relaxation taping (PIR-taping) - compared with the effect of a conventional postisometric relaxation (PIR) in the treatment of outpatients with myofascial pain as a result of muscle spasm and shortening of static muscles, resulting in muscle imbalance. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study recruited 320 outpatients with myofascial pain due to muscle spasm and shortening, resulting in muscle imbalance in one of 8 kinetic segments. We treated randomly 8 groups of 20 patients by PIR and 8 matched groups by PIR-taping. The treatment consisted of one procedure daily (PIR or PIR-taping) with duration of 10 minutes for 10 working days. The pain was assessed by a visual analogue scale before and after each procedure. RESULTS: The pain decreased significantly after the treatment course in each group (p 0.05). The pain before the next PIR procedure tended to increase in comparison with the pain after a previous one, unlike the pain in PIR-taping treatment which tended to decrease. Pain intensity after PIR procedure decreased significantly compared with the pain after a previous one (p 0.05). The pain reduced significantly after PIR procedure (p 0.05). CONCLUSION: Despite the better short-term effect of PIR versus PIR-taping, there was no difference between the final results of both methods, due to the continuous (24-hour) effect of PIR-taping.