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Health

How does muscle pain manifest itself?

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Muscle pain symptoms are extremely difficult to differentiate by type and classify by etiological causes. Even in the definition of myalgia there is still no consensus, it is often replaced by diagnostic names - fibromyositis, fibromyalgia, myositis, etc.

Damage and inflammation of muscle tissue, surrounding connective tissue, manifest themselves in the form of signs similar to visceral clinical parameters, so the symptoms of muscle pain are often diagnosed as manifestations of pathologies of internal organs. However, myofascial symptoms are special trigger zones, the inactivation and relaxation of which helps to quickly eliminate pain. In addition, true myalgia is characterized by pain in tonic muscles, which are most vulnerable to static loads, stretching during physical labor, training. Dynamic muscles often suffer from hypotonia, lethargy and atrophy without pain.

Symptoms of myalgia (muscle pain) usually appear spontaneously, suddenly, and may increase with movement, as well as if the location of the pain is palpated. Often, pain becomes chronic, acquiring the character of an independent syndrome, if the period of acute pain has passed without proper treatment, thus the body adapts to pain signals.

Symptoms of muscle pain can be divided by the nature of the sensations, they depend on the type of myalgia.

  1. Fibromyalgia (FM)

Primary fibromyalgia is a musculoskeletal pain sensation localized in the shoulder girdle, neck, back of the head, and lower back. Symptoms of primary muscle disease are aggravated by vegetative manifestations, asthenia, and insomnia. The pain symptom intensifies under the influence of psychogenic factors, temperature changes, and physical exertion. The pain is diffuse and aching, but it is characterized by certain zones - 18 diagnostically important trigger points. The course of the disease is always chronic, the diagnosis of FM is confirmed if symptoms are present for 3 months or more.

Secondary myalgia is a typical consequence of prolonged sports loads, constant physical overexertion (active or static). The pain is always symmetrical, bilateral, nagging, rarely acute, accompanied by vegetative symptoms, sleep disturbance.

  1. MFPS (myofascial pain syndrome), which in the modern classification is singled out as a separate nosology. Pain in MFPS is localized clearly, its zone is narrower in comparison with fibromyalgic pain, in trigger points the spasmodic area of the muscle is clearly palpated. The course of the disease is acute, pain can be quite intense, spontaneous, strong.
  2. Myositis is an inflammation of muscle tissue, acute or chronic. The pain is sharp, often unbearable, even in the case of chronic myositis. The pain symptom is localized at the site of inflammation, but can also be reflected along the direction of muscle fibers. Myositis can be accompanied by elevated body temperature, the acute form of the disease often leads to nausea, tissue swelling, and is aggravated by signs of intoxication of the body.
  3. Polymyositis is more severe in its symptoms than simple muscle inflammation. Multiple areas of muscle tissue are affected, atony, dystrophy, muscle hypotonia, and often muscle fiber necrosis develop. The disease can lead to disability.

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Epidemiology

Symptoms of muscle pain in statistics:

  • Myalgia in the form of fibromyalgia more often affects women, the ratio is: women 60-65%, men – 35-40%.
  • Muscle pain causes sleep disturbance in 75% of cases.
  • Muscle pain is accompanied by paresthesia in 60% of cases.
  • Meningeal signs, especially neck muscle stiffness, are noted in 30% of patients with fibromyalgia muscle pain.
  • 45-50% of people suffering from muscle pain feel anxiety and fear.
  • 70-75% of people with muscle pain are prone to fatigue and weakness.
  • Muscle pain in 85% of cases leads to limited motor activity.

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Acute muscle pain

The acute nature of muscle pain indicates trauma to muscle tissue, most often a rupture of fibers, fascia, or even a complete muscle tear. Stretching, simple contraction of a muscle is rarely accompanied by a strong pain sensation, even if it occurs, it is characterized as short-term.

Acute muscle pain, possible causes:

  • Rupture of muscle, muscle fibers of the 2nd degree. This microtrauma is considered reversible, but is accompanied by acute, sharp pain, often spasm. The pain may increase with diagnostic palpation.
  • A grade 3 muscle rupture is defined as multiple damage to connective fibers, often accompanied by extensive internal hematoma. Acute muscle pain leads to limited motor activity, muscle atony, and delayed spasm. The pain is clearly localized, rarely pinpoint, more often diffuse, but within the tissue damage.
  • A complete muscle tear of the 4th degree is considered a severe injury, accompanied by intense sharp pain, a click. A tear is a complete disconnection of the transverse muscle fibers and fascia, while the separated parts of the muscle can be located quite far from each other. The tear site quickly swells, an extensive hematoma develops, the damaged area hurts a lot and is completely immobilized, this is especially typical for muscle ruptures in the extremities.

In addition, acute pain can also be caused by trauma to bone tissue - a crack, bone fracture, joint dislocation; the pain symptom in these cases lasts for quite a long time, and gradually subsides as the connective tissue regenerates.

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Pulling pain in muscles

The pulling nature of muscle pain is a symptom of chronic myalgia, fibromyalgia, in addition, a similar nature of pain is inherent in the neuropathic or vascular nature of pain. An example can be pulling pain in the muscles with intermittent claudication, as well as pseudo-ischemic chest pain, similar to the clinical manifestations of angina. Also, the pulling nature of pain indicates pathological structural changes in muscle fibers, for example, after intense training (delayed pain), when excessive stress provokes microtrauma of fibers, their tears, and a situational inflammatory process develops in connective tissues. Spasmodic muscles, a state of stiffness - tension, as a rule, are accompanied by dull, aching pain.

Thus, pulling pains in muscles are a signal that vascular pathology is developing in the body (atherosclerosis, thrombophlebitis, varicose veins), most often in the pelvic area and lower extremities. Occlusion (blockage) of blood vessels interferes with normal blood supply to muscles, oxygen deficiency can develop in them, they lose elasticity, tone, and atrophy can begin. Overexertion, accompanied by hypertonicity, spasm, is also a kind of disruption of muscle blood supply, which causes pain of a pulling, aching nature.

Temperature and muscle pain

Myalgia, accompanied by elevated temperature, is always associated with an acute inflammatory process - viral, bacterial or parasitic etiology and indicates one or another degree of intoxication of the body.

Temperature and muscle pain are typical symptoms of flu and acute respiratory viral infections. In addition, hyperthermia accompanies muscle pain in the following diseases:

  • Flu.
  • Epidemic myalgia.
  • Myositis is an infectious purulent, less often non-purulent disease.
  • Parasitic myositis.
  • Epidemic myalgia.

Temperature and muscle pain are symptoms of Bornholm disease or epidemic myalgia caused by enterovirus (Coxsackie virus). Muscle pain is paroxysmal, acute, localized in the upper body (chest, back, neck, shoulders, arms), body temperature rises to critical levels of 39-40 degrees.

Purulent myositis can develop as a result of injury to soft tissue and infection entering the wound.

Parasitic myositis develops as a consequence of invasion by trichinella, cysticercus, toxoplasma. The body temperature is always elevated and can reach 40-41 degrees, in addition to muscle pain, the patient develops severe swelling of the face, headache, diarrhea. Myalgic symptoms are localized in the muscles of the neck, lower back and calf muscles.

Severe muscle pain

Myofascial syndrome is characterized by intense pain manifestations, unlike fibromyalgia; in addition, severe muscle pain can be a symptom of non-infectious or symptomatic myositis.

Typical acute non-infectious myositis is localized in the following areas:

  • Deltoid muscle - myositis of the shoulder girdle.
  • Neck muscles – cervical myositis (muscular torticollis).
  • Muscles of the lumbosacral region - lumbago (lumbago).

Acute myositis is characterized by severe pain, leading to movement restrictions, temporary immobility of the neck, legs or arms.

The areas where the inflammatory process is localized are marked by painful sensations upon palpation, and seals and nodes are clearly felt in them. Severe muscle pain caused by simple myositis subsides at rest and passes after a few days, but can recur without adequate treatment. This is how chronic myositis develops, which is accompanied by pain that is less intense, but present constantly, often even at rest.

Symptomatic myositis can also manifest itself as severe muscle pain, the course of the disease is associated with the main etiological factor, which refers to the internal organs or the spine. In this case, severe muscle pain is a reflection of pathological processes, and not an independent condition.

Myalgia associated with physical or psycho-emotional overstrain, fibromyalgia is extremely rarely manifested by intense pain sensations; rather, it indicates a combination of muscle hypertonicity and a serious, as yet undiagnosed pathology, for example, rheumatic polymyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis.

Muscle pain and cramps

Cramps are spontaneous contractions, muscle contractions, usually accompanied by pain. Muscle pain and cramps are a typical consequence of overexertion, most often - long-term training, swimming, walking. Accordingly, when it comes to cramps, they are most often associated with the calf muscle, according to statistics, contraction of these muscles makes up more than 70% of all cramp syndromes in various parts of the body.

Reasons why muscle pain and cramps occur:

  • Professional factor, muscle strain under static or dynamic load (salespeople, athletes).
  • Varicose veins.
  • Traumas – microdamage to muscle fibers, less often – muscle hernia.
  • Disruption of the balance of potassium, sodium, calcium as a consequence of venous congestion.
  • Neurological diseases.
  • Herniated disc.
  • Uremia (azotemia).
  • Intoxication, including drug-induced.
  • Disruption of water and electrolyte balance due to excessive sweating or dehydration.
  • Latent thyroid diseases.
  • Diabetes.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Calcium deficiency due to abuse of caffeinated drinks.
  • Atherosclerotic changes in the vascular system.

Muscle cramps can be short-term – clonic or long-term, accompanied by severe pain, tonic. Any type of contraction is accompanied by muscle pain. It should be noted that cramps in principle cannot be painless, since pain is the key, triggering factor of spasm and hypoxia of muscle fibers.

Aching pain in muscles

Violation of microcirculation, permeability of vascular walls, ischemia, vascular atherosclerosis - this is far from a complete list of reasons that can cause aching pain in the muscles.

The protopathic nature of the pain symptom is typical for vascular pathologies in principle, and muscle pain is no exception. If the blood supply and muscle nutrition are disrupted, a disorder of the oxidative process develops, and dull, aching pains appear accordingly. Symptoms develop slowly, are realized only during the period of exacerbation, and it is also difficult to determine the exact localization of pain. It should be noted that painful muscle zones are most often diagnosed using external palpation, when a clear signal comes from the affected muscles.

Diseases that cause aching pain in the muscles are always chronic and can be:

  • Chronic form of muscle inflammation, myositis. Most often, myositis is accompanied by intense pain symptoms, but its chronic course is characterized by adaptation to the pathological process, when the pain is dull, aching in nature and can only worsen with hypothermia, additional trauma. As a rule, this applies to myositis of the lumbar region, which is manifested by pain of medium intensity, increasing with palpation or physical exertion.
  • Fibromyalgia, which is still a "mysterious" disease of unclear etiology. Myalgia develops gradually, affects almost all muscles of the body, the pain is constant, aching, mild. Fibromyalgia is never combined with inflammatory processes in the musculoskeletal system or internal organs, no organic pathologies are detected during a comprehensive examination, the only defining criteria are aching pain in the muscles at certain trigger points.
  • Dull, aching pain symptoms may indicate inflammation of the tendons or tendon tissue – myoenthesitis, parathenotitis. The cause of these conditions is severe fatigue, overstrain of certain muscle groups and microtrauma of the tendons. The muscles in the affected area are tense, swollen, the pain is clearly localized in the load zone.

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Muscle weakness and pain

Muscle weakness and hypotonia are characteristic of dynamic muscles and may indicate many diseases, such as the following:

  • Metabolic disorder in muscle tissue.
  • Polyneuropathy (vasculitis).
  • Anterior tibial artery syndrome.
  • Myoglobinuria.
  • Endocrine disorders.
  • Collagenoses.
  • Intoxication, including drug-induced.
  • Anorexia.
  • Cardiogenic asthenia.
  • Neuromyotonia.
  • Spinal injuries.
  • Post-workout weakness and pain.

The list of diseases and conditions that provoke feelings of weakness and pain in the muscles is large, but most often such a syndrome is defined as myopathy (from myopathia, where myo is a muscle, pathia is pain). Myopathy refers to neuromuscular, progressive diseases, which include polymyositis, myositis associated with other pathologies of connective tissue, ossifying myositis, dermatomyositis. Differentiation is carried out using a blood test for the level of CFU - creatine phosphate kinase, histochemical, neurophysiological examinations. The cause of muscle atony can be both hereditary factors and infectious, inflammatory diseases, as well as injuries, hypothermia, metabolic disorders, intoxication.

Schematic pathogenetic development of weakness and pain in muscle tissue:

  • Weakness, atony of the proximal muscles, mainly in the shoulder girdle, pelvis, hips, and neck.
  • Difficulty performing simple actions – climbing stairs, steps, difficulty getting up from a chair, from bed, combing hair, washing.
  • Rapid progression of muscular dystrophy can lead to weakness of the neck muscles and an inability to hold the head upright.
  • Spasm of the pharyngeal ring and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing food) may develop.
  • All signs of myopathy are accompanied by transient, situational pain.

Muscle weakness and pain as a symptom can be classified into the following groups of diseases:

  1. Muscle pathologies:
  • IIM – idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (polymyositis, dermatomyositis, all other types of non-infectious myositis).
  • Infectious myositis – bacterial, protozoal, nematode, cystoid, viral, granulomatous myositis).
  • Toxic myopathies are drug-induced, toxic myopathies.
  • Metabolic myopathies – glycogen deficiency, lipid deficiency, purine deficiency, mitochondrial myopathies.
  • Secondary metabolic myopathies – endocrine myopathies, electrolyte imbalance, osteomalacia myopathies.
  • Muscular dystrophies – Duchenne disease, Becker muscular dystrophy, Deifuss-Haugen disease, Merb disease, Rottauf disease, Mortier-Beyer muscular dystrophy, scapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, Landouzy-Dejerine disease and others.
  • Slowly progressive muscular dystrophies – myotubular, paramyotonia, Thomsen myotonia, amyloidosis.
  1. Neurogenic pathologies:
  • ALS – myotrophic lateral sclerosis.
  • Spinal amyotrophy.
  • Spinobulbar muscular atrophy.
  • Peroneal amyotrophy of Charcot-Marie-Tooth.
  • Radiculopathy, including diabetic.
  • CIDP - chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, as well as its acute form.
  • Shoulder plexopathy.
  1. Disruption of neuromuscular synapse conduction:
  • Myasthenia gravis.
  • Lambert-Eaton syndrome.
  • Rhabdomyolysis.

Muscle and bone pain

Muscle and bone pain is a symptom of diffuse or localized myalgia, or more precisely, one of its forms. Musculoskeletal pain is so called because the sensations in the muscles are inevitably combined with pain in the skeletal system due to their anatomical relationship. The vast majority of causes of musculoskeletal pain (about 75%) are associated with myofascial pain syndrome, when pain is considered a reflection of spondylogenic neurological pathologies. In addition, it should be noted that myofascial symptoms, myotonic manifestations are always combined with psychoemotional disorders. This is why muscle and bone pain is so difficult to diagnose and differentiate. Basically, the division and classification of pain associated with the musculoskeletal system occurs in the following groups:

  • Local pain.
  • Radicular pain.
  • Referred pain.
  • Secondary spastic pain or myofascial pain.

What pathologies are associated with muscle and bone pain?

  1. A clearly localized symptom indicates a pathological process in the sensitive nerve endings (pinching, irritation of the nerve). Localized pain is most often constant, but its intensity varies and depends on the position, movement or rest of the person.
  2. Reflected pain symptom in muscles and skeletal system. Such pain can be projected from the spinal column or be a reflection of pathology of internal organs. If the pain is secondary and serves as a signal of disease of an internal organ, it is not affected by posture, movement of the spinal column, i.e. such a symptom does not subside at rest.
  3. Radicular syndrome is usually characterized by a high degree of intensity, the pain is strong, sharp and limited to the limits of radicular conduction. The cause is compression, stretching or pinching of the spinal nerve endings. Most often, the pain spreads from the center of the lesion and intensifies with reflex movements - coughing, sneezing, laughing. According to the description of subjective sensations from the sick person, the pain is felt deep - in the bones and muscles at the same time.
  4. Myofascial syndrome is characterized by clearly localized painful areas that are easy to palpate. The pain is provoked by muscle hypertonicity, the skeletal system is not involved in the pain syndrome in principle, but patients feel the symptom as deep and, according to subjective descriptions, it affects the bones.

Constant muscle pain

Constant muscle pain is a typical description of either chronic, advanced myositis or evidence of fibromyalgia. In principle, the constant nature of pain always refers to the chronicity of the disease, in this case, muscle pain is considered one of the specific criteria of FM - fibromyalgia, especially if the symptoms are distributed across diagnostic trigger zones.

Fibromyalgia, the etiology of which is still unclear, is accompanied by diffuse, widespread pains that are constant, aching, and less often acute. The diagnosis of the disease is established if constant muscle pain is present for at least three months. Also, the diagnostic criterion is 11 of the 18 points recommended by the disease classifier.

According to one of the latest theories about the origin of fibromyalgia, pain is a consequence of decreased serotonin levels. In addition, fibromyalgia and constant excruciating pain can be caused by endocrine, hormonal disorders, since the main contingent of patients with FM are women. In addition to constant pain in the muscles, fibromyalgia is characterized by the following symptoms:

  • Chronic fatigue, weakness.
  • Stiffness of movement, especially in the morning, after sleep.
  • Insomnia, disturbance of the slow, relaxing sleep phase.
  • Chronic tension in the neck muscles, leading to headaches.
  • Dysfunctions of the digestive system.
  • Restless legs syndrome, less commonly cramps.

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Muscle pain throughout the body

The most common complaint of patients with fibromyalgia is pain in the muscles of the whole body. Diffuse, symmetrical pain in the muscles and joints of the body, the constant nature of symptoms, clear localization by trigger zones - these are the main diagnostic criteria that help to identify this poorly studied disease. In addition, the symptoms of FM (fibromyalgia) are so skillfully disguised as signs of other nosological pathologies that they are defined as polysymptomatics or syndrome. Pain in the muscles of the whole body at first glance occurs spontaneously, without visible objective reasons, any standard examination does not reveal a single organic or systemic lesion that could provoke FM.

Trigger pain currents - tender points are indeed located throughout the body, they have been studied quite well, there are 18 of them in total, if palpation determines pain in 11 of them, and if the symptoms last more than 3 months and are not associated with organics, then the diagnosis of fibromyalgia can be considered definite.

Statistics show that in addition to diffuse pain spread throughout all parts of the body, fibromyalgia is characterized by the following conditions, complications and consequences:

  • More than 50% of patients with FM lose their ability to work and their quality of life deteriorates significantly.
  • The efficiency of the activity of patients with FM tends to zero. Within a year, the efficiency of activity falls from 40% to 10% and below.
  • 75-80% of patients with FM are women over 35 years of age.
  • Fibromyalgia, accompanied by pain throughout the body, is often disguised as CFS – chronic fatigue syndrome. In the classifier, these are two different nosological units.
  • In terms of symptoms, FM is 60-70% similar to irritable bowel syndrome.
  • Pain throughout the body with FM most often begins with tension headaches and dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint (in 70-75%) •
  • Painful areas are very sensitive to weather conditions and temperature changes.

It should be noted that widespread muscle pain is also characteristic of MFPS – myofascial pain syndrome, which is difficult to differentiate from fibromyalgia, however, it is a separate disease.

Recurrent muscle pain

Periodic muscle pain or transient pain is associated with nociceptors – converters of the receptor response of muscle tissue to a traumatic factor.

This happens when the damage to muscle fibers is insignificant and the pain subsides much earlier than the process of restoring the fiber structure is completed. The main task that periodic muscle pain performs is a situational reflex response to a relatively safe damaging factor, thus pain is a kind of learning experience in overcoming trauma.

Most often, pains associated with post-workout overloads and one-time muscle hypertonicity are of a periodic nature.

The so-called muscle soreness after intense training without proper warm-up is nothing more than a completely natural compaction of muscle tissue, or its micro-tears.

Also, transient pains can be caused by muscle stretching, disruption of its nutrition (blood supply, microelements, electrolyte balance). As soon as the provoking factor is eliminated, the pain subsides.

For physical overload, rest, relaxing or warming massage are enough, in case of microelement deficiency, additional intake of vitamin preparations, enhanced nutrition help to quickly cope with the pain symptom. Electrolyte balance is restored by drinking a sufficient amount of mineralized liquid (sodium mineral waters).

In summary, it can be stated that the periodic, recurrent nature of myalgia indicates the return of a provoking factor, most often physical overexertion. Those people who have already experienced temporary transient muscle pain after intense work or after the action of another factor may experience a similar symptom more than once for the following reasons:

  • If we are talking about training, then the program is chosen incorrectly or proper preparation (stretching, warming up the muscles) is not carried out before strength exercises.
  • If myalgia recurs outside the factor of physical stress, then there is an unresolved psycho-emotional, social problem to which the muscles continue to periodically react in the form of hypertonicity.

Chronic muscle pain

Any pain symptom that lasts longer than the recovery or healing period is considered chronic. Many clinicians talk about chronic symptoms as an independent disease that has its own pathological process and provokes secondary dysfunction at the site of localization.

Chronic muscle pain is associated with dysfunction of muscle fibers, most often due to constant static load. Muscle spasm is caused by excessive activation of metabolic processes and increased contractile properties of fibers. This chronic process inevitably leads to compression of blood vessels, nerve endings and general circulatory disorders, ischemia.

Constant, chronic pain is not intense, it is often dull, aching and is more typical of fibromyalgia than myositis. The pain symptom in fibromyalgia develops not only in muscle fibers, but also in ligaments, tendons, it is accompanied by asthenia, sleep disorders, depression. The pain is diffuse, spread along trigger points, which respond with distinct painful sensations when palpated.

Also, chronic pain in muscle tissue can be caused by latent diseases of the endocrine system, parasitic invasion of muscles, chronic inflammatory processes (polymyositis).

The localization of chronic pain depends on many factors, the most common area is the lower back, where a large number of nociceptors (neurons) are located, especially those that have a peripheral, delayed effect. Thus, the task of pain - etiological protection is not fully performed, the body becomes maladaptive and begins to "get used to" the pain implicit symptom.

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Cutting pain in muscles

Acute, cutting pain in muscle fibers is a biological response of the body's adaptive system to damage - initial or already occurred. Most often, cutting pain is associated with dysfunction of smooth muscles without concomitant trauma and damage to surrounding tissues. The duration of pain depends on the period of muscle recovery or on the speed of relief of the underlying cause - vertebrogenic, cervicogenic and other factors.

Cutting, “lance-like” pain in muscles is quite rare and can be caused by the following factors:

  • Soft tissue injury (open, closed), severe contusion with rupture of subcutaneous tissue and fascia, muscle fibers.
  • Myofascial syndrome in combination with cramps and contractures.
  • An acute form of infectious myositis, accompanied by abscesses.
  • Complete muscle rupture, transverse rupture of muscle fibers.

Cutting pain in muscles always indicates severe trauma, damage to muscle fibers or an acute inflammatory process in them. Cutting pain can also be provoked by excessive efforts, load on a stretched muscle that has begun to recover. Severe pain is also accompanied by cramps, contracture, when with involuntary muscle contraction the level of adenosine triphosphate decreases, the electrical conductivity of muscle fibers is disrupted. In addition, sharp pain is caused by reflex muscle contraction when deep layers of soft tissue are damaged, carpopedal spasms (tetany).

Myositis deserves special attention, which is characterized by sharp, cutting pains due to the inflammatory process in muscle tissue. If the inflammation is chronic, its acute period is left without proper treatment, the load on the inflamed muscle increases, a fibrous compaction - a node - forms inside it. In addition to the fact that the diseased muscle is spasmodic, a blockage of blood flow, ischemia develops in it, the rate of metabolic processes increases and specific chemical substances are released, provoking pain. The most typical areas of painful cutting symptoms in myositis are the neck, shoulders, and back.

When diagnosing a cutting muscle pain symptom, possible underlying causes are always excluded - an oncological process, inflammation of internal organs of infectious etiology, acute spinal syndrome. Particularly thorough examinations are required if the sharp pain in muscle fibers does not subside and does not depend on a change in body position or movements.

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Nausea, fever and muscle pain

Myalgia, which is accompanied by nausea and hyperthermia, may indicate many diseases of completely different etiology. However, the combination of symptoms - nausea, fever, muscle pain - is a sign of a serious condition that requires immediate hospitalization.

What diseases can cause nausea, fever and muscle pain?

  • Influenza, especially the toxic form. Accompanied by chills, lacrimation, often delirious states with high body temperature, weakness.
  • Meningitis. The main symptoms are high temperature (up to 40 degrees), severe diffuse headache of a bursting nature, rash, nausea and repeated vomiting, rigidity and pain in the occipital muscles and leg muscles, there may be a convulsive syndrome.
  • Herpes (genital) - characteristic rashes, itching, weakness in the body, hyperthermia, enlarged lymph nodes, nausea and headache, myalgia. The same symptoms can be with herpes zoster.
  • ITS is an infectious toxic shock (bacterial shock), which can be caused by meningitis, dysentery, flu, candidiasis and other diseases of viral and bacterial etiology. Symptoms include a spontaneous jump in temperature to 39-40 degrees, nausea and vomiting, severe muscle pain, swelling, diarrhea, rash, loss of consciousness, cyanosis, tachycardia.
  • Epidemic myalgia. Symptoms are hyperthermia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, pain in the abdominal muscles, in the chest muscles.

To summarize, it can be noted that a combination of such threatening signs most often indicates severe intoxication of the body, a serious condition that requires an immediate call to a doctor or emergency medical care.

Cold and muscle pain

What people call a cold would be more correctly called ARVI, ARI, tonsillitis, flu. According to the difference in nosologies, the symptoms also differ, but there are also common signs - increased body temperature and muscle pain.

Why is it considered that muscle pain is a typical symptom of a cold?

Myalgia is almost always accompanied by elevated body temperature, therefore, if the cold is acute, the patient will complain of discomfort, pulling, aching sensations in the muscle tissue. As a rule, all colds are accompanied by obvious catarrhal symptoms - runny nose, sore throat, conjunctivitis, but colds are also characterized by intoxication, when the decay products of bacteria and viruses enter the bloodstream. The body tries to get rid of toxins with the help of increased sweating, which in turn provokes a violation of the electrolyte, water-salt balance. It is this violation that causes myalgia in various areas of the body. To neutralize dehydration and accelerate the removal of intoxication products, patients are recommended to drink plenty of fluids - hemodilution.

In addition, muscles play the main role in the chemical thermoregulation of the body, and kidneys and liver participate in this process to a lesser extent. Muscles provide contractile thermogenesis, which increases and is activated during colds. Thus, muscle pain during a cold is a sign of their more intensive work, which helps to cope with the disease together with other systems.

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Flu and muscle pain

It is believed that flu and muscle pain inevitably accompany each other, but this is not always the case. More often, a viral infection is accompanied by transient diffuse myalgia, and real, true myositis - inflammation of muscle tissue is almost never encountered. This is due to the pathogenetic mechanism of penetration of the flu virus into the body. The primary invasion and reproduction of influenza virions mainly occurs in the epithelial cells of the respiratory system - the nasopharynx, bronchi, in the endothelial tissue of the capillaries. The virus has a cytopathic effect on mucous tissues, provoking total suppression of the immune system (suppression of phagocytosis), but is not able to penetrate muscle fibers due to its molecular structure.

How to determine what is causing myalgia, a simple respiratory illness or flu, muscle pain caused by overexertion or a virus?

Everything depends on the severity of the process, which in the case of influenza is determined taking into account two clinical forms - influenza with a predominance of catarrhal symptoms or influenza with a predominance of intoxication symptoms.

The catarrhal course of the disease is rarely accompanied by muscle pain, this is more typical for the intoxication form, when from the first hours of the disease a person feels aches, pain in the legs (calf muscles), lower back, joints, or generalized muscle pain throughout the body. Then other signs of viral intoxication appear - weakness, dizziness, adynamia. Such characteristic manifestations with objective information about possible influenza infection (epidemic, contact with a sick person) can serve as arguments in favor of diagnosing the intoxication course of influenza.

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Muscle aches and pains

The sensation of aching is more typical of joint pain than muscle pain, but patients often describe their condition as “muscle aches and pains.” What diseases can provoke such an atypical combination of symptoms?

  • ARI, ARI, adenovirus diseases are often accompanied by subfebrile temperature, aching, aching sensations in the muscles of the body.
  • Reduced immune activity – primary, caused by a genetic factor, or secondary, associated with chronic pathologies of internal organs, stress, drug intoxication. Symptoms are weakness, fatigue, drowsiness, sleep disturbance, aches and pains in muscles and joints.
  • Chronic non-infectious myositis is an inflammatory process in muscle fibers. Pain symptoms are not intense, depend on movements, loads, and often on weather conditions. Chronic myositis is characterized by muscle weakness, muscle atrophy, which provokes aching sensations. Causes are constant static tension of certain muscle groups, hypothermia, intoxication, injuries, parasitic invasion.
  • Fibromyalgia, which often provokes aches and pains in trigger zones without any signs of inflammation. The pain is diffuse, diffuse, constant, and chronic.
  • Post-workout pain, DWP – delayed onset muscle pain is often expressed in aching, aching sensations. The pain is temporary and is associated with overload, micro-tears of muscle fibers

Muscle pain after sleep

It is necessary to differentiate between morning stiffness in joints and muscles, which is often confused by patients themselves when describing subjective sensations.

Typical morning pain and stiffness are typical signs of osteoarthritis, in which the articular cartilage is destabilized, but not the muscles. Morning pain is also characteristic of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, in which pain sensations after sleep last no more than an hour. The pain is localized in the back and affects only the skeletal system, without affecting the muscular system.

As for muscle tissue, muscle pain after sleep is most likely associated with fibromyalgia, in which diffuse chronic pain is the main symptom. Typical signs of fibromyalgia:

  • Sleep disturbance leading to a feeling of fatigue and exhaustion starting in the morning.
  • Stiffness of movements after sleep, pain in muscles and joints. Muscle pain zones are clearly palpated within the boundaries of diagnostic trigger zones.
  • Headache, often caused by hypertonicity of the muscles of the neck and shoulder girdle.
  • Feeling of numbness in the limbs.
  • Leg muscle pain, restless legs syndrome during sleep.

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