Muscle pain - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Myalgia is a localized pain in one or more muscles. This symptom can occur due to various causes, including excessive strain, trauma and systemic diseases.

Local muscle pain

Local muscle pain is confined to a specific body area.

Often, the well localized myalgia is due to an involuntary and sudden contraction of the muscle (cramp) or to a partial lesion of the muscular structure due to a trauma (tear, contracture etc.).

Tearing is the excessive and painful stretching of muscle fibers, due to wrong movement or excessive stress; excessive stretch and muscle breakage cause intense pain, inability to make movements, stiffness and swelling in the lesion area. The contracture, on the other hand, causes a painful sensation similar to cramp: the muscle begins to pull, contracting and stiffening, and it is not possible to fully extend the affected limb.

Furthermore, myalgia can result from excessive or too prolonged physical exertion, with specific commitment of a specific muscle band.

On some occasions, the pain is a consequence of the continuous tension due to stress and the prolonged maintenance of wrong postures that favor muscle fatigue (especially on the neck, shoulders and back). Other times, the pain is reflected and originates in the bone and joint (arthritis, arthrosis, distortion, tendonitis, etc.).

Widespread muscle pain

Widespread muscle pain can have various causes, including viral infections (especially influenza and coxackie infection), polymyalgia rheumatica, drug-induced myopathies (eg statins and fibrates) and hypothyroidism. In some cases, myalgia can depend on a state of general fatigue.

Widespread muscle pain is also found in inflammatory myopathies (dermatomyositis and polymyositis), alcohol withdrawal syndrome and sodium, potassium or calcium electrolyte imbalances.

Muscle pains can occur in several other circumstances: muscular dystrophies, myasthenia gravis, rhabdomyolysis, systemic lupus erythematosus, trichinosis and fibromyalgia.