Good quality summaries of most important scientific papers about trigger points

Last week I published two new articles about the controversial science of trigger points, for a total of three articles and ~16,000 words on this topic:

1. a heavily referenced review of the evidence that a trigger point is a “tiny cramp”
2. a summary of the academic controversy about trigger point science
3. the story of my own doubts and how they’ve changed over the years (this is the “main” article on this theme; it was around before but has been revised heavily)

Most of the attention was focused on the announcement, which included the highlights of my current views in about a dozen bullet points. Relatively few people have actually read the new articles, understandable given their length and density. I published these because I had to: because it’s critical to establish and maintain my credibility as an author on this topic. In that spirit, there’s one more thing I want to highlight: the insane amount of work I put into the referencing.

PainScience.com is known for good footnotes, but I really raised the bar this time, because I personally wanted to understand. (I always do, of course, but even more this time!) So I busted my ass reading and painstakingly reviewing and summarizing a lot of key science. These bibliography pages could stand alone as a series of blog posts about the science of trigger points. So, here they are, featured for their own sake. It’s not all of the relevant science, not by a long shot, but these are the highlights, the most important and/or the ones I put the most work into grokking:

• “Microscopic features and transient contraction of palpable bands in canine muscle”
• “Referred pain of peripheral nerve origin: an alternative to the "myofascial pain" construct”
• “[Morphologic study of trigger points]”
• “Endplate potentials are common to midfiber myofacial trigger points”
• “An expansion of Simons' integrated hypothesis of trigger point formation”
• “Identification and quantification of myofascial taut bands with magnetic resonance elastography”
• “Ability of magnetic resonance elastography to assess taut bands”
• “Biochemicals associated with pain and inflammation are elevated in sites near to and remote from active myofascial trigger points”
• “A systematic, critical review of manual palpation for identifying myofascial trigger points: evidence and clinical significance”
• “Assessment of myofascial trigger points (MTrPs): a new application of ultrasound imaging and vibration sonoelastography”
• “Induction of muscle cramps by nociceptive stimulation of latent myofascial trigger points”
• “Magnetic resonance elastography: a review”
• “Myofascial trigger points: spontaneous electrical activity and its consequences for pain induction and propagation”
• “Accelerated muscle fatigability of latent myofascial trigger points in humans”
• “A critical evaluation of the trigger point phenomenon”
• “Evaluation of myofascial trigger points using infrared thermography: a critical review of the literature”
• “Reliability of different methodologies of infrared image analysis of myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle”
• “Two-dimensional ultrasound and ultrasound elastography imaging of trigger points in women with myofascial pain syndrome treated by acupuncture and electroacupuncture: a double-blinded randomized controlled pilot study”