Sometimes the pain follows a sudden injury and resolves quickly. In other cases, pain seems to spread throughout the body and worsen over time.
Myofascial pain is the most common of the pain syndromes.
Many acupuncture points were first identified when physicians noticed that many patients had the same painful muscle points. In Western medicine, localized tender spots in muscle are known as Trigger Points. These areas are usually tender, and can cause severe radiating pain when pressure is applied. Sometimes trigger points are not tender, but can be felt as nodules within a muscle, or sensed as stiff areas. Trigger points can occur in isolated muscles, causing specific pain syndromes, or they can occur in many muscles simultaneously.