To determine the relationship between skin temperature and pressure tolerance in patients with myofascial pain.
Blinded, criterion standard.
Community physiatry clinic.
Sixteen consecutive female patients with myofascial pain or fibromyalgia with shoulder girdle symptoms above the T4 level for at least 3 months. No patient met the exclusion criteria of recent trauma to the area or therapy within 48 hours.
Skin temperature was measured by using a hand-held infrared thermometer over 36 points arranged in a grid on the upper and midtrapezius. Pressure threshold was then assessed at each point by using a pressure threshold meter. A second, blinded examiner then examined each patient to find any myofascial tender spots and noted within which square on the grid they occurred.
The correlation between temperature and pressure threshold and the temperature differences between tender and nontender areas.
A nonsignificant correlation of.023 (p =.57) was found between temperature and pressure threshold. The mean temperature of the tender spots was 32.1 degrees C. No significant difference existed between tender spot temperature and temperature of nontender points (32.1 degrees C, p =.653) or contralateral points (32 degrees C, p =.893).
Skin temperature, measured with a hand-held infrared thermometer, cannot be used to diagnose and follow treatment progress of myofascial tender spots, because skin temperature over tender spots does not correlate with pressure sensitivity.