Myofacial Pain Syndrome

I am in the early phases of Myofascial Pain Syndrome, after lifting a heavy box in early September, 2024. My pain doc ordered 'manual' PT, which seems to be working slowly (home exercizes, PT twice weekly). Pain is in the pelvic areas, legs, all the way down to my feet, both sides. Will receive cortizone shots in the SI area tomorrow, so let's see how these might give me temporary or permanent relief. I must say that pain seems to be lessening gradually. Still hard to climb stairs and rise up from sitting. Taking 600 mg Gabapentin daily for peripheral neuropathy in feet, but no pain there. Tylenol for Muscle Pain also seems to help.

I have had myofascial pain for 27 years, which started within hours of an MVA in 1998. I have had every possible treatment to relieve the pain, but to date, nothing has worked.

@artscaping what is mfr release exactly if you n don't mind me asking ive been dealing with this pain in my hip ive only been dealing with the pain for a little over a year now from physical assault so im starting at beginning with all this. Any and all advice from someone whose been dealing this for awhile im all ears please. I understand it's life long but I just wanna ease this pain as much as possible naturally without a bunch of medication and dr appts running a million test with a bunch of different random suggestions of what clearly isn't gonna work. I thought about joing a gym for stretches. Heat feels amazing on it and my dad who has R.A. found this stuff online called magic wizard its like an icy hot on steroids only thing ive found slightly close that touched my pain. The pian is spiking my blood pressure to stroke out point if that helps describe my pain level. Never had problems till the physical assault sad part is I just turned 39 when all this happened

Hello @grapeape04, Welcome to Connect. I thought I would jump in and respond for our friend @artscaping who is no longer able to follow Connect. There is a great video that explains Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) in another discussion that you may want to join in and learn what others have shared:
-- Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
I know you mentioned you want some pain relief naturally without a lot of testing done but have you thought about seeing a doctor to check for injuries related to the trauma you experience?

Yes, MFR for you might help try a couple therapists till you find one that’s really good. My myofascial pain comes from a life of rep repetitive work, poor posture that I was born with and other such things. The fascia glued together and so the MFR therapist breaks down the gluey substance and the muscles will glide over each other without tagging. I’ve been doing it for about a year and a half. For me at 68 I’ve been told by everyone all the doctors I will be doing this for the rest of my life.. It’s just part of getting older for some people. However, I have gone from seeing the MFR therapist every two weeks to now almost once a month.

@grapeape04 myofascial release is a therapy that glues muscles and sheets, which are glued together. There’s also fascia on your nerves which could be irritated. You didn’t tell us anything about what is hurting you so it’s impossible to give you any direction. You also haven’t said how far out you are from the assault. It can take a year or two for your body to heal. You also didn’t say what condition you were in (good health or inactive) when you were assaulted and if you have other health problems. So if you are concerned about privacy and don’t want to reveal these things, then I suggest that you keep going to all the different doctors that you can at this time. I remember when I was in an accident at your same age I got an attorney who kept sending me to a gazillion doctors for tests. I absolutely hated going to the doctors three times a week and not doing my work. But she was right and I was wrong because the answer isn’t with one doctor it was what many of them who all seemed unrelated. It took a couple years to get to court and then all of the doctors for the accident stopped, but my body started deteriorating with arthritis and inflammation and it brought a whole new set of doctors that ended up eventually bringing me to joint replacement surgeries about 12 years late. So you didn’t really provide enough information to help you much except that you have to keep advocating for yourself. Nobody else will do it. For me, at 68 it ended up that my tailbone and SI joints are in daily pain. So I take a low-dose daily narcotic. It doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t inhibit me. I started with a small dose. Eventually, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc condition and my joints aren’t the greatest. So being that I can’t have surgeries all the time I just take the narcotic when I need to and move on because living my life is the most important thing. It was a really complicated journey And at 68. I am in much better condition than I was at 38. That’s all I can tell you. At the same time I had this accident. I also started acquiring arthritis, pain, and inflammatory pain. And it just really all confounded the doctors so it had to be my own journey. You might have a different path. You can read books about pain management, which are helpful. I had also inherited the family gout and so 20 years after the fact, I was put on medicine and all my inflammatory pain which I was told was arthritis disappeared. Oh I have arthritis, but I don’t have the pain from it anymore. You just have to keep pushing.

I was diagnosed with Myofascial Pain Syndrome in June 2025 by a rheumatologist in conjunction with a pain specialist, after 18 months of pain in the torso. It resulted from a fall down some steps two years ago. After the vertebrae healed, the tightness and muscle fascia pain continued. I did 20 months of land PT that also included dry needling, but relief was short-lived and I felt more pain after the therapy. My pain specialist stopped the land PT and referred me to an aquatic therapist who works in a warm pool. It, along with Lyrica and Cymbalta, achieve the best relief i have had so far. I highly recommend aquatic therapy as it reduces the strain on the muscles and allows you to stretch them.

I'm suffering from this horrific syndrome. I was diagnosed 8 years ago with fibromyalgia. I have very high stress in my life, thats the way it is. My hubby & Mom both have dementia & I care for them. Unfortunately I think the pain I have is from my fibro but has now turned to MFPS. I use a hard baseball in a sock & a theracane for my trigger points. Most of my pain is in the upper half of my body. I'm Canadian & cannabis is legal here. I've tried it and it doesn't help & I dont like how I feel on it. It gives me great anxiety. I get steroid & lidocaine injections in my shoulders, it help somewhat, but like everything else its temporary. If it continues to increase, I'm willing to apply for our MAID program here in Canada. "Medically assistance in dying" its euthanasia. I'm a retired nurse and I'm so grateful that we have that option, as I saw so many pass in excruciating pain. Has anyone tried botox injections at the trigger points ? If so has it helped ? It would be expensive here but if it works, I'd be willing to try it. I wish there was a way to transfer our pain to others only for a minute, so others could feel what we're dealing with. Especially our Dr's. I too dont want to become dependent on narcotics, I use dilaudid only when it gets unbearable. My Dr monitors how much I use which is about 60 tablets a year. My Dr is quite comfortable with that amount.

Hello, I too suffer greatly with this. I started out dx with fibromyalgia & now this. I've tried so many things. I get the most relief with targeting the trigger spots with a hard baseball in a long sock. I lay on it til I feel it actually release, then move on to next spot. It can take over an hour to do them all & i use a device called a thera-cane to get those hard to reach areas. Im in a bad flare at the moment & im on day 3 of this treatment. Its starting to hurt less...til the next one.

@jrayk agree, it is a pesky problem…I’ve had some for a long time, but patience pays off--PT, exercises, walking and sessions with an excellent osteopath/MD do help… I use Topracin, heat and Tylenol, and the occasional pain patch. Wish you all good luck..hang in there !