Investigation of correlation between pain and fascia hardness:Clinical trail of acupuncture trigger point at scalenus muscle and ash point at rhomboid muscle
Objective:To investigate and understand the corresponding pains of the fascia hardness of acupuncture at the trigger point of the scalenus muscle,and the ash point of the rhomboid muscle based on the analysis of the visual analogue scale(VAS)of the patients before and after the treatment.Methods:Sixty-four patients with myofascial pain syndrome of rhomboid muscle were collected from Acupuncture Department of Beijing Shijitan Hosipital,Capital Medical University from Jan 2019 to Jun 2022.The patients were separated evenly into the test and control groups,with 32 in each group.VAS and Young's modulus were utilized to analyze the differences in the pain response on the triggered scalenus muscle in the test groups compared to the ash rhomboid muscle in the controlled group.Results:At the end of treatment,the VAS of the test group decreased significantly compared to the control group(P<0.01).The Young's modulus of the fascia in the control group decreased after acupuncture(P<0.05),but there was no statistically significant change in the Young's modulus of the fascia in the test group after acupuncture.Conclusion:The analgesic effect of acupuncture at the trigger point of the scalenus muscle is better than acupuncture at the ash point of the rhomboid muscle.Solely focusing on reducing the fascia hardness to alleviate the pain is not the best choice,and combined with distal acupoint selection may have better curative effect.
AcupunctureTrigger pointYoung's modulusDistal acupointsMyofascial pain syndrome of rhomboid