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MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) consist of minor physical disabilities.

 

MSDs are injuries or pain in the body’s joints, ligaments, muscles, nerves, tendons, and structures that support limbs, neck and back. The pain and discomfort may interfere with everyday activities. MSDs can arise from a sudden exertion or they can arise from making the same motions repeatedly repetitive strain, or from repeated exposure to force vibration, or awkward posture.

 

Injuries and pain in the musculoskeletal system caused by acute traumatic events like a car accident or fall are not considered musculoskeletal disorders.

 

MSDs are extremely common, and your risk increases with age and the severity of the MSD can vary.
Early diagnosis and treatment are the keys to ease pain while potentially decreasing further bodily damage.

 

Examples of MSDs include carpal tunnel syndrome, epidondylitis, tendinitis, back pain, tension neck syndrome, and hand-arm vibration syndrome.

Common pain areas with trigger points in the muscles

Trapezius & SCM Muscles

  • Headaches on the temples / “tension” headaches

  • Facial, temple, or jaw pain

  • Pain behind the eye

  • Dizziness or vertigo (in conjunction with the sternocleidomastoid muscle)

  • Severe neck pain

  • A stiff neck

  • Limited range-of-motion

  • Intolerance to weight on your shoulders

Supraspinatus and infraspinatus Muscles

  • Shoulder Clicking / Shoulder Snapping / Shoulder Popping

  • Shoulder Catch

  • Rotator Cuff Lesions or Tears

  • Front of Shoulder Pain

  • Inability to Reach Behind the Back

  • Inability to Raise Arm Up To Head

  • Shoulder Pain at Night

  • Bicepital Tendonitis

Trigger Points for Lower Back & sciatica

Trigger point explained with animation
What is pain?

​Neuroscientist: Pain is a sensory phenomenon registered on “perception”.
Psychologist: Pain may be a “learned/conditioned behavior”.

Doctor: “Warning sign” to be decoded for the diagnosis & treatment. “A sensation of discomfort”


  I. Pain is an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
  II. Nociception is unconscious activity induced by a harmful stimulus applied to sense receptors.

Pain has two functions:

  • Physiologically pain is a protective mechanism.

  • Pain acts as a symptom of tissue damage.

Mechanism of Pain Production

1. Tissue Damage
Injury or Tissue damage -> Releases (Bradykinin, Serotonin, Prostagladin, K+) -> Activate or sensitize nociceptors (sensory receptor for painful stimuli) -> Release of Substance P (SP) -> Acts on Mast cells & degranulation -> release of Histamine -> Excitation of nociceptors -> Pain

 

2. Tissue Ischemia
Blockade of blood flow to tiassue -> Annaerobic metabolism -> Accumulation of lactic acid & release of bradykinin, proteolytic enzymes due to tissue damage -> Exite nociceptors -> Pain

 

3. Muscle spasm
“common cause of clinical pain syndromes”
  I. Direct effect: stimulation of mechanosensitive pain receptors
  II. Indirect effect: compression of tissue blood vessels & ischemia

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