02/20/2025
You can help facilitate your own healing process..👇👇🔥
Devin J. Starlanyl's Feb., 2025 Research Updates.
As a hands-on therapist, the first three are of most interest to me.
Thanks, Devin!
Dede BT, Oğuz M, Alyanak B, Bağcıer F. Orphan muscle of groin pain: ultrasound imaging of the PECTINEUS muscle. J Ultrason. 2024 Dec 31;24(99):1-2. “Groin pain can be caused by a wide range of etiologic factors, from urologic problems to muscular pathologies, and it is a complex condition in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Some researchers have investigated myofascial trigger points by considering muscles in the etiology of pelvic pain and found myofascial tenderness was present in up to 88% of cases with palpation.
Jevotovsky DS, Oehlermarx W, Chen T, et al. “Weathering the pain: Ambient temperature's role in chronic pain syndromes. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2025 Jan 23;29(1):31. “This review aims to consolidate and critically evaluate the current evidence on the impact of ambient temperature on chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia (FM), multiple sclerosis (MS), complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and osteoarthritis (OA). Recent findings: Patients with FM often report pain exacerbations due to temperature changes, with studies showing lower thresholds for heat and cold-induced pain compared to healthy controls. In MS, the Uhthoff phenomenon, characterized by temperature-induced neurological deterioration, underscores the significance of ambient temperature in pain management. CRPS patients exhibit heightened pain sensitivity to temperature changes, with both warm and cold stimuli potentially aggravating symptoms. OA patients frequently report increased pain and rigidity associated with lower temperatures and higher humidity.”
Mizumura K, Taguchi T. Neurochemical mechanism of muscular pain: Insight from the study on delayed onset muscle soreness. J Physiol Sci. 2024;74(1):4. “Changing the speed and range of stretching showed that muscle injury seldom occurred, except in extreme conditions, and that DOMS occurred in parameters without muscle damage. The B2 bradykinin receptor-nerve growth factor (NGF) route and COX-2-glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) route were involved in the development of DOMS.”
Casas-Barragán A, Molina F, Tapia-Haro RM, et al. Different correlation patterns between circulating amino acids and body temperature in fibromyalgia syndrome: A cross-sectional study. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Dec 17;25(24):13517. “These findings suggest the possibility of a change in the function of several amino acids in the thermoregulatory process in patients with FMS.”
Cui Y, Abdi SAH, Wei J, et al.
The long-term cardiovascular risks of duloxetine use in older adults: A Retrospective medical record-based Adverse Drug Reaction assessment. J Clin Med. 2024 Dec 13;13(24):7595. “Long-term duloxetine use could cause significant cardiovascular problems in older individuals, particularly those who already have cardiovascular difficulties. Regular monitoring of cardiovascular function and early steps such as dose adjustment or drug withdrawal of duloxetine may reduce the prognosis of ADRs.”
Kurt G, Kiloatar H, Akdeniz Leblebicier M, et al. Effects of manual lymphatic drainage on pain intensity, impact of disease and quality of life in women with fibromyalgia syndrome: a double-blind randomized sham-controlled trial. Disabil Rehabil. 2025 Jan 6:1-7. “This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) on the pain intensity, impact of the disease, and health-related quality of life among women diagnosed with Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS)…. The results of this study suggest that MLD added to medical treatment may be an effective alternative method that could be used in the treatment of FMS to reduce pain intensity and improve impact of disease.”
Oikkonen V, Helosvuori E, Ganesh A, et al. Entangled illnesses: Embodied experiences of managing multimorbidity. Sociol Health Illn. 2025 Feb;47(2):e70006. Multimorbidity, meaning multiple long-term conditions impacting a person's health, has become a rising societal and public health issue. The article contributes to the sociological study of chronic illness and multimorbidity by analysing how the blurriness of illnesses and entanglement of symptoms in multimorbidity is experienced and negotiated by people with coexisting chronic conditions. Drawing on qualitative interviews with people who live with endometriosis, fibromyalgia or hormonal migraine in Finland, we show how people with multiple chronic conditions distinguish between evolving symptoms based on past embodied experiences to make decisions about how to best manage their health. We argue that coexisting illnesses become entangled in ambiguous and open-ended ways, which, if left unaddressed, complicates treatment. Our analysis of illness experiences is aligned with the growing body of literature that argues that the single-disease model underlying healthcare systems fails to address the needs of patients living with multiple chronic conditions.
Patel P, Green M, Tram J, et al. Latest advancements in Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS): Revisiting an established therapy with new possibilities. J Pain Res. 2025 “Jan 9;18:137-153. TENS modulates pain perception through various techniques, targeting specific nerve fibers and pain pathways. High-frequency TENS is effective for segmental pain control, while low-frequency TENS, reliant on endogenous opioid pathways, may be less effective in opioid-tolerant patients. Additionally, TENS may influence autonomic functions, such as micro-perfusion and sympathetic tone, further broadening its therapeutic potential. EMS, on the other hand, enhances muscle strength and neuromuscular function, particularly in rehabilitation settings, by recruiting additional muscle fibers and improving neuromuscular efficiency.”
Pertab JL, Merkley TL, Winiarski H, et al. Concussion and the autonomic, immune, and endocrine systems: An introduction to the field and a treatment framework for persisting symptoms. J Pers Med. 2025 Jan 17;15(1):33. A significant proportion of patients who sustain a concussion/mild traumatic brain injury endorse persisting, lingering symptoms. The symptoms associated with concussion are nonspecific, and many other medical conditions present with similar symptoms. Medical conditions that overlap symptomatically with concussion include anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and cervical strain injuries.
Stroman PW, Staud R, Pukall CF. Evidence of a persistent altered neural state in people with fibromyalgia syndrome during functional MRI studies and its relationship with pain and anxiety. PLoS One. 2025 Jan 24;20(1):e0316672. “The results indicate that people with FM enter a heightened state of neural activity associated with anxiety and autonomic functioning, during every fMRI run, concurrent with increased pupil sizes, and heightened pain sensitivity. These findings may relate to the well-known hypervigilance and global hypersensitivity of FM participants.”
Vinker-Shuster M, Magen E, Green I, et al. Increased rates of infectious diseases in fibromyalgia patients: A population-based case-control study. Biomedicines. 2024 Dec 12;12(12):2821. “Fibromyalgia (FM) patients are known to have medical comorbidities. This study characterized the rates of infectious diseases in FM patients compared to the general population….The FM patients had a significantly higher incidence of infectious diseases than the general population.”
