Amazing discovery. While getting Diagnostic Electrodiagnostic EMG needles stuck in dysphonic vocal cords, some experienced a sharp pain (like one hitting a muscle trigger point). Subsequently, those that experience that, noted their dysphonia was better. Looking into it deeper, some cases had subtle vocal fold movement abnormalities that suggested they had this underlying trigger point. Hitting spots in these asymmetries could improve phonition suggesting muscle spasm caused the asymmetries. This lead to a diagnosis of laryngeal myofascial pain syndrome (LMPS) as a potential entity.
1. Auris Nasus Larynx. 2017 Apr;44(2):182-187. doi: 10.1016/j.anl.2016.05.001. Laryngeal myofascial pain syndrome as a new diagnostic entity of dysphonia.
Jung SY et al
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27262220
- excluded vocal fold paralysis, mucosal lesions, spasmodic dysphonia, and vocal tremor
- All had a history of voice abuse and had odynophonia
- vocal fold hypomobility was the most common finding
- after being stuck with EMG needles, showed improvement of vocal fold mobility and vocal handicap scores
Comment – Had a patient recently with dysphonia and poor response to botulinum. Wish I knew where to send her as article is from South Korea…