February 2012      References    Devin J. Starlanyl   for http://www.sover.net/~devstar

Alonso-Blanco C, Fernandez-de-las-Penas C, Morales-Cabezas M et al. 2011. Multiple active myofascial trigger points reproduce the overall spontaneous pain pattern in women with fibromyalgia and are related to widespread mechanical hypersensitivity. Clin J Pain 27(5):405-413. “The local and referred pain elicited from widespread active MTrPs fully reproduced the overall spontaneous clinical pain area in patients with FMS. Widespread mechanical pain hypersensitivity was related to a greater number of active MTrPs. This study suggests that nociceptive inputs from active MTrPs may contribute to central sensitization in FM.”

Bagis S, Karabiber M, As I et al. 2012. Is magnesium citrate treatment effective on pain, clinical parameters and functional status in patients with fibromyalgia? Rheumatol Int. [Jan 22 Epub ahead of print]. “Sixty premenopausal women diagnosed with fibromyalgia according to the ACR criteria and 20 healthy women whose age and weight matched the premenopausal women were evaluated. Pain intensity, pain threshold, the number of tender points, the tender point index, the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ), the Beck depression and Beck anxiety scores and patient symptoms were evaluated in all the women. Serum and erythrocyte magnesium levels were also measured. The patients were divided into three groups. The magnesium citrate (300 mg/day) was given to the first group.... amitriptyline (10 mg/day) was given to the second group....,and magnesium citrate (300 mg/day) + amitriptyline (10 mg/day) treatment was given to the third group....After the 8 weeks of treatment.... serum and erythrocyte magnesium levels were significantly lower in patients with fibromyalgia than in the controls. Also there was a negative correlation between the magnesium levels and fibromyalgia symptoms. The number of tender points, tender point index, FIQ and Beck depression scores decreased significantly with the magnesium citrate treatment. The combined amitriptyline + magnesium citrate treatment proved effective on all parameters except numbness..... The magnesium citrate treatment was only effective tender points and the intensity of fibromyalgia. However, it was effective on all parameters when used in combination with amitriptyline.”

Baker NA, Rubinstein EN, Rogers JC. 2012. Problems and Accommodation Strategies Reported by Computer Users with Rheumatoid Arthritis or Fibromyalgia. J Occup Rehabil. [Jan 24 Epub ahead of print]. The number of problems during computer use was substantial in our sample, and our respondents with RA and FM may not implement the most effective strategies to deal with their chair, keyboard, or mouse problems. This study suggests that workers with RA and FM might potentially benefit from education and interventions to assist with the development of accommodation strategies to reduce problems related to computer use.”

Ge HY. 2010. Prevalence of myofascial trigger points in fibromyalgia: the overlap of two common problems. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 14(5):339-345. Now that we have objective evidence of the reality of myofascial trigger points, it is becoming more apparent that they contribute to many chronic regional and widespread pain conditions. “Active MTrPs as tonic peripheral nociceptive input contribute tremendously to the initiation and maintenance of central sensitization, to the impairment of descending inhibition, to the increased excitability of motor units, and to the induction of sympathetic hyperactivity observed in FM.  The considerable overlap of MTrPs and FM in pain characteristics and pathophysiology suggests that FM pain is largely due to MTrPs.”

Hargrove JB, Bennett RM, Simons DG et al. 2012. A randomized placebo-controlled study of noninvasive cortical electrostimulation in the treatment of fibromyalgia patients. Pain Med. 13(1):115-124. “ Noninvasive cortical electrostimulation in FM patients provided modest improvements in pain, TeP (tender points) measures, fatigue, and sleep; and the treatment was well tolerated. This form of therapy could potentially provide worthwhile adjunctive symptom relief for FM patients.”

Leavitt F, Katz RS. 2011. Development of the Mental Clutter Scale. Psychol Rep. 109(2):445-452. “Mental fog is a core symptom of fibromyalgia. Its definition and measurement are central to an understanding of fibromyalgia-related cognitive disability. The Mental Clutter Scale was designed to measure mental fogginess. In an exploratory factor analysis of two different samples (n=128 and n=170), cognitive symptoms of fibromyalgia loaded on 2 dimensions: cognition and mental clarity. The mental clarity factor comprised 8 items with factor loadings greater than .60 and was named the Mental Clutter Scale. The factor stability of the new scale was good, internal consistency was .95, and test-retest reliability over a median of 5 days was .92. The 8-item scale is a quick measure of mental fog that provides clinicians with information about cognitive functioning in fibromyalgia.”

Park CH, Lee YW, Kim YC et al. 2012. Treatment experience of pulsed radiofrequency under ultrasound guided to the trapezius muscle at myofascial pain syndrome - a case report. Korean J Pain. 25(1):52-54. “Trigger point injection treatment is an effective and widely applied treatment for myofascial pain syndrome. The trapezius muscle frequently causes myofascial pain in neck area. We herein report a case in which direct pulsed radio frequency (RF) treatment was applied to the trapezius muscle. .... RF treatment produced continuous pain relief when the effective duration of trigger point injection was temporary in myofascial pain.”

Spaeth M, Bennett RM, Benson BA et al. 2012. Sodium oxybate therapy provides multidimensional improvement in fibromyalgia: results of an international phase 3 trial. Ann Rheum Dis. [Jan 31 Epub ahead of print]. “Along with pain and fatigue, non-restorative sleep is a core symptom of fibromyalgia.” This study of 573 FM patients meeting the 1990 ACR criteria... ..”were randomly assigned to placebo, SXB (sodium oxybate) 4.5 g/night or SXB 6 g/night.” Assessment included pain, ...”function, sleep quality, effect of sleep on function, fatigue, tenderness, health-related quality of life and subject's impression of change in overall wellbeing....Significant improvements in pain, sleep and other symptoms associated with fibromyalgia were seen in SXB treated subjects compared with placebo....These results, combined with findings from previous phase 2 and 3 studies, provide supportive evidence that SXB therapy affords important benefits across multiple symptoms in subjects with fibromyalgia.