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Between 70% and 80% of people in the American workforce experience stiffness, heaviness and burning sensations in the neck, shoulders or back, typically produced by jobs requiring repetitive motions or sitting for long periods. These people suffer from myofascial pain syndrome (MPS), a condition that is hard to diagnosis but can cause chronic localized muscular pain affecting the neck, shoulders and lower back. MPS can also be caused by other factors that range from straining a muscle or joint to stress.
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With MPS, "trigger points" that are tender and painful to touch, are associated with knots in the muscle tissue that can produce numbness, tingling, dizziness, migraine and muscular spasms in areas different from the pain's actual point of origin. This is called "referred" pain and is a typical symptom of MPS. Various factors relating to traumas, nutrition, hormones (menstruation) organic diseases (for example osteoarthritis or cardiopathies) and chilling (sitting in a cold air conditioned room or car) may stimulate trigger points. Stress can worsen the symptoms.
Standard diagnostic tests (like x-rays, electromyography and laboratory tests) are not sufficient to a positive diagnosis of MPS. Its symptoms are often non-specific, appearing unrelated to the underlying disease. This often gives a false impression of a problem with the connective tissue covering the muscles, bones, nerves and arteries.
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