Department of Radiology, Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Grupo InPhysio, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), Madrid, Spain.
Eur J Clin Invest. 2024 Dec;54(12):e14313. doi: 10.1111/eci.14313. Epub 2024 Sep 6.
Physiotherapists encounter challenges in diagnosing myofascial trigger points (MTrPs), which are crucial for managing myofascial pain but difficult due to their complex referred pain patterns. We aimed to assess if an interactive software (MyofAPPcial) can enhance the ability of physical therapists specialized in musculoskeletal disorders (as clinicians and as researchers and educators) to identify referred pain patterns associated with specific MTrPs and to explore their opinion about incorporating this technology regularly into their professional setting.
After developing the app, a descriptive cross-sectional survey study was conducted. Participants were asked about their demographic characteristics, professional experience, two knowledge tests (first without and later with MyofAPPcial support) and the 18-item mHealth app usability questionnaire.
Fifty-nine participants completed the survey (47.5% clinicians and 62.5% researchers/educators). Groups were comparable in terms of age, gender and professional experience (p > .05). However, clinicians coursed shorter specific MPS trainings (p = .007) and handle more cases a week (p < .001). In the first knowledge test, participants in both the groups were more accurate in identifying pain maps of highly prevalent MTrPs than those with a moderate or low prevalence (p < .001), with no differences between the groups for individual items (all, p > .05) nor the total score (p > .05). In the second knowledge test, perfect scores were obtained for all items in both the groups. Finally, MyofAPPcial scored high satisfaction and app usefulness, with no difference between clinicians and researchers/educators (except greater convenience of use for researchers/educators p = .02).
MyofAPPcial enhances physiotherapists' ability to accurately identify MTrPs, with a good acceptation among clinicians and researchers/educators.
物理治疗师在诊断肌筋膜触发点（MTrP）时会遇到挑战，这些触发点对于管理肌筋膜疼痛至关重要，但由于其复杂的牵涉性疼痛模式，很难诊断。我们旨在评估交互式软件（MyofAPPcial）是否可以增强专门治疗肌肉骨骼疾病的物理治疗师（作为临床医生、研究人员和教育者）识别与特定 MTrP 相关的牵涉性疼痛模式的能力，并探讨他们是否愿意将这项技术纳入他们的专业环境中。
在开发该应用程序后，进行了一项描述性的横断面调查研究。参与者被要求回答他们的人口统计学特征、专业经验、两项知识测试（第一次没有，第二次有 MyofAPPcial 支持）和 18 项移动健康应用程序可用性问卷。
共有 59 名参与者完成了调查（47.5%为临床医生，62.5%为研究人员/教育者）。两组在年龄、性别和专业经验方面具有可比性（p＞.05）。然而，临床医生接受的特定 MPS 培训时间更短（p＝.007），每周处理的病例更多（p＜.001）。在第一次知识测试中，两组参与者在识别高流行 MTrP 的疼痛图谱方面都比识别中等或低流行 MTrP 的更准确（p＜.001），但两组在单个项目（均为 p＞.05）和总分（p＞.05）上没有差异。在第二次知识测试中，两组均获得了所有项目的满分。最后，MyofAPPcial 获得了很高的满意度和应用程序有用性，临床医生和研究人员/教育者之间没有差异（除了研究人员/教育者认为使用更方便，p＝.02）。
MyofAPPcial 提高了物理治疗师准确识别 MTrP 的能力，临床医生和研究人员/教育者对此都有很好的接受度。
