Characteristics of muscle fatigue in patients with myofascial pain-dysfunction syndrome

Surface electromyographic assessment of patients with long lasting temporomandibular joint disorder pain

“…Therefore, other objective, quantitative methods are currently used to supplement the diagnosis of TMD, and to monitor the effectiveness of the relevant treatments. Surface electromyography (EMG) can make an objective recording of the masticatory muscle function and dysfunction (Castroflorio et al, 2005(Castroflorio et al, , 2008De Felício et al, 2009;Ferrario et al, 2007;Forrester et al, 2010;Gay et al, 1994;Grünheid et al, 2009;Koyano et al, 1995;Santana-Mora et al, 2009;Sato et al, 1998;Suvinen et al, 2003Suvinen et al, , 2009Tartaglia et al, 2008). Indeed, recent studies proposed that the principal disorders in TMD patients are not joint problems, but motor problems (Douglas et al, 2010), with alteration in muscular activity (Santana-Mora et al, 2009).…”

Ultrasonography as a tool for evaluating treatment of the masseter muscle in temporomandibular disorder patients with myofascial pain

“…2 In such patients, the muscle is assessed by various methods, including electromyography, [3][4][5] bite-force measurement, 5 pressure-pain threshold measurement, 6 and near-infrared spectroscopy. 7 Ultrasonography (US) is a viable alternative because it can demonstrate the muscle features noninvasively.…”

Masticatory myofascial pain, and tension-type and chronic daily headache

“…Indeed activity in muscle nociceptors tends to induce inhibition of the alpha motoneuron pool during contraction (Lund and Stohler 1994). Furthermore, patients with MMP demonstrate shorter endurance at submaximal contractions (Clark et al 1984;Gay et al 1994) and a substantially reduced biting force compared to controls, which has been attributed to muscle pain and tenderness (Buchner et al 1992;Shiau et al 2003). In summary, these findings are likely to reflect a protective mechanism that avoids further tissue damage, and do not lend support to the hypothesis of increased muscle activity in MMP patients.…”