Annals of physical and rehabilitation medicine
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Ann Phys Rehabil Med · Mar 2012
Clinical TrialLower back pain and neck pain: is it possible to identify the painful side by palpation only?
Back pain is often attributed to increased tension in the back muscles, regardless of whether the tension is primary or related to a disc/facet pathology. We hypothesized that when either lower back pain or neck pain is unilateral, the muscle tension would be more pronounced on the painful side and could be detected by palpation alone (i.e., without the need to apply pain-triggering manoeuvres). ⋯ Our findings suggest that palpation can detect increased muscle tension in a limited proportion of cases.