Therapy is usually only partly effective. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and glucocorticoids are ineffective, which is consistent with the lack of evidence of inflammation. Cardiovascular fitness training and aerobic exercise programs, as well as biofeedback training, have been found to be effective in many patients. The course of the disease is chronic. Although partial improvement of symptoms commonly occurs with treatment, most patients have persistent symptoms for many years.
Complete remission occurs in only a few patients, and relapse occurs often.
Myofascial pain syndromes consist of regional pain accompanied by trigger points. The pain is described as deep and continuing but is usually limited to a single muscle group. The trigger point is a localized area of deep tenderness, usually over the center of a muscle group. Unlike palpation of the localized tender points of fibromyalgia, palpation of the trigger point in myofascial pain syndromes produces pain over a region that is usually distal to the trigger point and reproduces the distribution of the spontaneous pain. The trigger point may be associated with an abnormality in muscle consistency described as a taut band or nodule.