A Whole Person Approach to Describing the Clinical Spectrum and Symptom Burden of Unexplained Chronic Myofascial Pain

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PT

Location: 212

Ideal Audience:Physicians, Researchers, Residents/Fellows, Medical Students

Course Director(s)

Lynn Gerber, MD (she/her/hers)

Dr.
Inova Health System and George Mason University

Speaker(s)

Siddhartha Sikdar, PhD

Professor
George Mason University
John Z. Srbely, PhD

Associate Professor
University of Guelph
Antonio Stecco, MD PhD

Assistant Professor
NYU Langone Health
SD

Secili DeStefano, DPT

Owner
Optimal Motion
Jay P. Shah, MD

Staff Physiatrist
National Institutes of Health

Brief Session Description : This session identifies a core set of evaluations that capture the presence, absence, and severity of cMP, utilizing clinical evaluations and patient-reported measures. We report relationships among the following: the presence of MTrPs, an in-depth evaluation of pain history and its possible contributors. We analyzed these multidomain variables to identify their influence on pain and which variables inter-related to form a network of possible connections among the variables. We believe this approach leads to better understanding the inter-relationships of clinical variables to the pain burden and may lead to appropriate patient evaluation strategies, treatments and understanding possible cMP mechanisms.
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Session Objectives:

1. List the classic physical findings associated with diagnosis of chronic myofascial pain(cMP).

2. Describe the shortcomings of these diagnostic criteria in evaluating the pain state associated with cMP

3. Identify domains of measurement shown to be informative in assessing the clinical spectrum and symptom burden of pain and the phenotype of people with cMP.

4. Apply whole body assessment variables of interest using a case example that may help develop effective treatment plans.
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