Clinical Research Directory

Healthy Volunteer Inclusion Criteria: 1. Absence of a history of chronic pain in the targeted anatomical location (i.e., neck and shoulder) that had limited activities of daily living or work 2. A numerical current pain index of lower than 0.5 according to initial assessment with visual analog scale 3. Able to understand the goal of the project and give informed consent. Healthy Volunteer Exclusion Criteria: 1. Pregnancy or breastfeeding 2. Contraindication to MRI 3. Previous severe/acute neck or shoulder injury 4. Previous neck or shoulder surgery 5. Neck or shoulder deformities 6. Inability to provide consent. Myofascial Pain Patient Inclusion Criteria: 1. Between the ages of 18 and 80 years old 2. Neck and/or shoulder pain, unilateral or bilateral 3. Duration of symptoms for longer than 4 weeks 4. Pain scale at the active state higher than 4 according to initial assessment with visual analog scale 5. Presence of active trigger point(s) according to palpation and/or presence of taut band Myofascial Pain Patient Exclusion Criteria: 1. Recent history of trauma to the neck (e.g., whiplash) 2. Acute cervical radiculopathy 3. Acute cervical spine pain component or acute cervical spinal pathology Presence of neuromuscular pathologies or inflammatory muscle diseases (e.g., dermatomyositis) 4. Systemic disease with diffuse body pain (e.g., system lupus erythematosus and and thyroid disease) 5. Peripheral neuropathy 6. Cancer-related pain 7. Pregnancy, coagulopathy, fever, general/local infection at the pain site, substance abuse, peripheral neuropathy, or any other diseases that may account for signs and symptoms mimicking myofascial pain 8. Contraindication to MRI.