Abstract
IntroductionMyofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is one of the most common disorders causing chronic muscle pain. Almost one-third of patients with musculoskeletal complaints meet the MPS criteria. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) in patients with MPS through a systematic review method.MethodsPubMed, Scopus, Embase, ProQuest, PEDro, Web of Science, and CINAHL were systematically searched to find out the eligible articles without language limitations from 1990 to December 30, 2020. All relevant randomized controlled trials that compared the effectiveness of IMES with sham-IMES, dry needling, or exercise therapy in patients with MPS were included. Full texts of the selected studies were critically appraised using Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB2).ResultsSix studies (out of 397) had met our inclusion criteria (involving 158 patients) and were entered to the systematic review. Outcome measures examined in these studies included pain, range of motion, pressure pain threshold, biochemical factors, disability, and amount of analgesic use. In the most studies, it has been shown that IMES is more effective than the control group in improving some outcome measurements such as pain.ConclusionThere is preliminary evidence from a few small trials suggesting the efficacy of IMES for the care of myofascial pain syndrome. The data support the conduct of larger trials investigating the efficacy of IMES.
Highlights
Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is one of the most common disorders causing chronic muscle pain
Six studies were included in this systematic review based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria
The details of the excluded studies with justification for exclusion are presented in the “Appendix 2: Table 4”
Summary
Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is one of the most common disorders causing chronic muscle pain. Almost one-third of patients with musculoskeletal complaints meet the MPS criteria. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) in patients with MPS through a systematic review method. Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is one of the most frequent disorders causing chronic muscle pain that is usually overlooked [1]. Almost one-third of patients with musculoskeletal complaints meet the Simons and Travel MPS criteria [2]. There is some evidence that electrical stimulation (ES) can increase blood flow to the muscle [14, 15]. Some researchers have combined DN with ES to achieve more effective treatment outcomes for blood flow, pain severity, and ROM, among others [16, 17]
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