Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is one of the most common chronic musculoskeletal pain disorders. However, MPS is often under-diagnosed. The purpose of this study was to characterize practicing clinicians' perspectives of the current diagnostic criteria for MPS.
A cross-sectional study design was used with a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire evaluated clinicians' perspective of the current diagnostic criteria for MPS. The sample population (n= 119) consisted of 40% family physicians, 31% physical medicine (PM) and rehabilitation specialists, 11% rheumatologists, 10% emergency room (ER) physicians, and 8% anesthesiologists specializing in chronic pain.
Our findings demonstrated that participating clinicians agree that ``point tenderness'' and ``pain reproduction'' are criteria for MPS. In contrast, the clinicians do not consider ``autonomic symptoms'' as an important criterion for MPS. The anesthesiologists view ``restricted range of motion'' as a criterion for MPS more than the other groups, and they tend to consider ``referred pain'' and ``pain reproduction'' as criteria. Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists and anesthesiologists tend to view ``local twitch response'' more as a criterion for MPS compared with the other groups. Most groups of clinicians consider ``weakness without atrophy'' as an important MPS criterion except for family physicians. It is important to note that ``poor sleep'', ``daytime fatigue'' and ``cognitive symptoms'', which are not considered as MPS symptoms, are often mistaken for MPS among practicing clinicians.
Our findings suggest that the diagnostic criteria are not well known, highlighting the need for an expert consensus to determine the importance of each criterion for MPS diagnosis.