Chronic trapezius myalgia: Morphology and blood flowlstudied in 17 patients

Trapezius muscle changes unrelated to static work load

“…Because there was no difference between the two exposed groups, a connection between chronic pain and the occurrence of ragged red fibers cannot be made. However, a quantitative relation between ragged red fibers and muscle pain, as stated by others (Larsson et al 1990), cannot be ruled out because of the limited number of subjects that were included in OUT series. However, due to the age and the employment matching that were made, it is unlikely that women in the exposed group without complaints, but with ragged red fibers in their trapezius muscle, will develop neck pain.…”

“…Larsson et al (1988) found ragged red fibers in the trapezius muscle in patients with work-related chronic myalgia but not in healthy controls. This research group (Larsson et al 1990) has reported that isolated pathologic ragged red fibers are related to the presence of pain and that myalgia was correlated with reduced blood flow.…”

“…A relation between ragged red fibers and changes in microcirculation seems reasonable in view of the influence on blood flow that arises during static muscle work (Sjogaard et al 1986, Larsson et al 1990). The results presented in our study do not invalidate the hypothesis that nociceptive muscle pain (and ragged red fibers) develop from temporary hypoxia and from an energy crisis within some muscle fibers caused by a long static muscle load with compromised muscle blood flow (Larsson et al 1990).…”

“…Recent studies have reported morphologic (ragged red fibers), biochemical (ATP depletion), and bloodflow (reduced) changes in the trapezius muscle of women on long-term sick-leave for chronic workrelated neck pain compared with healthy controls (Larsson et al 1988(Larsson et al ,1990.…”

Three Clusters of Different Properties Characterize Women with Chronic Trapezius Myalgia

“…Increased occurrence of ragged-red fibers has been found in trapezius myalgia (24,25,41,42). Interestingly, ragged-red fibers have been related to insufficient blood supply in experimental studies on ischemic rat muscle (34).…”