Melzack Ronald, Stillwell Dorothy M, Fox Elisabeth J
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Canada Department of Medicine, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Que., Canada.
Pain. 1977 Feb;3(1):3-23. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(77)90032-X.
Trigger points associated with myofascial and visceral pains often lie within the areas of referred pain but many are located at a distance from them. Furthermore, brief, intense stimulation of trigger points frequently produces prolonged relief of pain. These properties of trigger points--their widespread distribution and the pain relief produced by stimulating them--resemble those of acupuncture points for the relief of pain. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between trigger points and acupuncture points for pain on the basis of two criteria: spatial distribution and the associated pain pattern. A remarkably high degree (71%) of correspondence was found. This close correlation suggests that trigger points and acupuncture points for pain, though discovered independently and labeled differently, represent the same phenomenon and can be explained in terms of the same underlying neural mechanisms. The mechanisms that play a role in the genesis of trigger points and possible underlying neural processes are discussed.
与肌筋膜痛和内脏痛相关的触发点通常位于牵涉痛区域内，但许多触发点与牵涉痛区域相距一定距离。此外，对触发点进行短暂、强烈的刺激常常能使疼痛得到长期缓解。触发点的这些特性——广泛分布以及刺激它们能缓解疼痛——类似于用于缓解疼痛的穴位的特性。本研究的目的是基于空间分布和相关疼痛模式这两个标准，确定触发点与疼痛相关穴位之间的相关性。结果发现两者具有非常高的对应程度（71%）。这种密切的相关性表明，尽管疼痛相关的触发点和穴位是独立发现且命名不同，但它们代表相同的现象，并且可以用相同的潜在神经机制来解释。本文还讨论了在触发点形成过程中起作用的机制以及可能的潜在神经过程。
