| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 復健科技輔具研究所 === 94 === Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is the most common cause of painful muscular dysfunction in outpatient clinic and the number of patients with MPS is growing in recent years. MPS is characterized by muscles that are in a shortened or contracted state with increased tone and stiffness, and that contain hyperirritable trigger points. Recently, MPS has been the major cause of long-term disorder. The patient’s symptoms of MPS include stiffness of neck and shoulder, numbness of the arms, muscles weakness, and fatigue.
Currently, there are many therapeutic methods for MPS, but most of these methods provide short term pain relief for the patients. Needle Electrical Intramuscular Stimulation (NEIMS) was developed by Dr. Chan, and was proven to be effective in relieving myofascial pain.
NEIMS is applied at the region of the key trigger points where the patient experienced great discomfort and pain. A 2Hz micro-current is applied continuously to each treatment site for 3 minutes to achieve pain relief.
Originally, NEIMS was performed through an EMG instrument.
However, the enormous equipment, expensive price and complicated procedures of EMG limited its popularity in clinical use. For these reasons, the “needle electrical intramuscular stimulator” was designed to encompass qualities that will make it widely accepted for outpatients use.The clinical trial were conducted to compare the effect of myofascial pain relief between the EMG instrument（EMG group） and the needle electrical intramuscular stimulator（NEIMS group）. Subjects with active trigger points in the trapezius or levator scapular were receive NEIMS weekly for four weeks. The visual analog scale (VAS) and pressure algometer as outcome tools for assessment of pain.
The results indicate that both of an EMG instrument and a needle electrical intramuscular stimulator are effective in relieving myofascial pain by the treatment of NEIMS. However, the needle intramuscular stimulator has the added advantages of being a safe, portable, and low-cost solution for clinical use.
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