Abstract
Objective
To determine the factors predicting the presence and number of latent trigger points
(LTrPs) in healthy individuals.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
Local faculty of health sciences.
Participants
Healthy individuals (N=242) were divided into 2 groups: group 1, those without LTrPs
(n=68); and group 2, those with LTrPs (n=174).
Interventions
None.
Main Outcome Measures
Disability was assessed using the Quick-Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand
questionnaire and the Neck Pain and Disability Scale. Psychological factors were evaluated
using the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory, and the Perceived Stress Scale. Quality of life was evaluated using
the Short-Form-12; smoking habits were determined with questions about current smoking
status; and pain level was assessed using the visual analog scale. The LTrP assessment
was made with a pinching movement or flat palpation bilaterally.
Results
By using a hierarchical regression model, we entered age, depression, and pain level
into the first block, which explained a significant amount of variance in the presence
and number of LTrPs (R2=.041; P=.033 and R2=.197; P<.001, respectively). Pain level contributed independently the presence of LTrPs,
whereas age and pain level predicted the number of LTrPs (P<.05).
Conclusions
This study found that pain and age were significant predictors of the number of LTrPs,
but only pain predicted the presence of LTrPs in healthy individuals.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
ATrP (active trigger point), BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), BSI (Brief Symptom Inventory), LTrP (latent trigger point), NPAD (Neck Pain and Disability Scale), PSS (Perceived Stress Scale), SF-12 (Short Form-12), STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), TrP (trigger point)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 10, 2016
Footnotes
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
