Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common musculoskeletal disorder associated with myofascial trigger points. Injection of steroid and local anaesthetic at the site is commonly used minimally invasive treatment procedure. Different parameters are used to assess improvement patterns in patients with myofascial pain syndrome, like pain, activity, global assessment score, pain free range of motion and composite scoring systems like University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) score and Constant Murley (CM) score. This prospective study has been designed to correlate the improvement in pain free range of motion (ROM) of shoulder with other functional scores like activity score, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) score and Constant Murley (CM) score after local injection with steroid and local anaesthetic in management of Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) involving upper back. Forty five patients with diagnosed MPS of upper back region were included in the study and were given combination of steroid and local anaesthetic injection. Other noninvasive treatments were same across the groups. Forty patients completed the study. Patients were assessed once before intervention and after 2 weeks and 6 weeks of intervention. The parameters assessed were pain score, patient’s global score, physician’s global score, activity score, pain free range of motion of shoulder abduction, UCLA score and Constant Murley score. Results were analysed and interpreted using appropriate statistical tests. All parameters demonstrated significant improvement over time. We also found good correlation of ROM with UCLA and Constant Murley score and moderate correlation with activity score.

Keywords: Myofascial Pain Syndrome, Trigger Point Injection, Pain free ROM, UCLA score, Constant Murley score.

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Dr Kshetra Madhab Das

Associate Professor, Dept of P.M.&R, NRS Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata, India

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