The myth of skeletal muscle spasm

Five articles on PainSci cite Johnson 1989: 1. The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome 2. The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain 3. The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks 4. Does Hip Strengthening Work for IT Band Syndrome? 5. Cramps, Spasms, Tremors & Twitches 

PainSci notes on Johnson 1989:

In this editorial from 1989, Dr. Ernst W. Johnson decries the “preposterous” widespread attribution of unexplained musculoskeletal pain to “spasm,” describing “overwhelming evidence that skeletal muscle spasm is nonexistent.” He believes that it’s a simplistic non-diagnosis with strong emotional appeal to both doctors and patients, and therefore cynically exploited by pharmaceutical companies to sell a treatment (muscle relaxants).

Although I agree that most unexplained musculoskeletal pain has nothing to do with “spasms,” I wish I knew what “overwhelming evidence” debunks the myth: he only mentions one 1950 study that I can’t find, and a replication of it that he was involved in that I also cannot find. He describes a study of 50 people with neck and/or shoulder discomfort, none of whom “had EMG evidence of muscle activity in the area of pain or in the proximal paraspinal muscle.”

related content

Specifically regarding Johnson 1989:

• A selection (p. 259) from the book Muscle pain, by Siegfried Mense, David G Simons, and IJ Russell.

This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:

• No long-term effects after a three-week open-label placebo treatment for chronic low back pain: a three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Kleine-Borgmann 2022 Pain.
• Exercise and education versus saline injections for knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Bandak 2022 Ann Rheum Dis.
• Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study. Kasch 2022 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
• A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
• Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.