Conditions Treated
Since muscles are located throughout the body they have the ability to create a wide range of symptoms. Heart attack symptoms (pain in the chest and left arm) may be mimicked by the left sided scalene or pectoral muscles, but a person should be screened by a licensed medical professional before assuming the pain felt is muscle pain. It is always important to rule out other conditions before assuming there is 'just a muscle problem' -- also, sometimes more than one condition is acting at the same time.
Simply put -- where ever you have muscle, you can have muscle pain. What makes muscle pain especially elusive is muscles refer pain about 85% of the time. This means the problem is usually somewhere other than where you feel pain.
Headaches
Many headaches, including migraines, have a muscular component. Some of the most common headaches are from the upper trapezius muscle, which will refer pain into the temple area as well as to the jaw. Other trigger points in the sternocleidomastoid muscle may refer pain over the sinus area as well as to the cheek and forehead.
Low Back Pain
Low back pain that goes unresolved may be referred pain from trigger points in the quadratus lumborum or the paraspinal muscles. The iliopsoas muscle also refers pain to the low back and many describe the pain from the iliopsoas as going up and down beside the spine. The illustration here is the pain pattern for the iliopsoas. Notice that the muscle is actually the deepest muscle in the anterior (front) side of the body and that the pain is felt in the back. It would be flawed to work on the part that hurts in the low back without realizing that the front of the body is what actually needs treatment.
Temporomandibular Joint Disorder
The temporomandibular joint or TMJ may be a source of severe pain in the area of the jaw, cheeks, and head. However, there may also be a problem with the musculature of the neck and jaw, which is causing or contributing to the pain being felt. Many times people with TMJD get referred to a psychotherapist because there is no clinical evidence for a disorder involving the actual temporomandibular joint. In these cases a person could be evaluated for myofascial trigger points that may be the cause of the condition.
Sciatica
Even though sciatica is not an actual diagnosis, but a symptom, I am going to discuss it anyway. Sciatica, by most people is believed to be caused by a "pinched" sciatic nerve, which is the large nerve trunk in the lower extremity. To some degree, though not as common, this may be true. The piriformis muscle may tighten and cause some impairment to take place on the sciatic nerve. This may be relieved by therapy and a stretching routine to loosen the piriformis muscle. A muscle in the lower extremity that can refer pain down the side of the thigh and leg as well as down the backside of the thigh and halfway down the calf muscle is the gluteus minimus muscle. The gluteus minimus pain pattern looks exactly like sciatica because it follows the path of the sciatic nerve. Therapy on this muscle can prove to ease much of the pain if not eliminate it totally. Call to make an appointment to be evaluated for trigger points.