Sufferers of chronic should pain should visit those in physiotherapy jobs to reduce symptoms and improve functioning researchers say.

Comprehensive physiotherapy and exercise which targets myofascial trigger points were found to improve patients' pain levels. As part of a randomised controlled trial, 72 patients with chronic shoulder pain were assigned to either a treatment group which received help once a week, or to a control group where they received no treatment.

Pulse reported that the intervention group received comprehensive treatment once a week, and that the treatment consisted of manual compression of the trigger points - in addition to the manual stretching of the muscles and intermittent cold application, with stretching.

Patients were also instructed to perform muscle-stretching and relaxation exercises at home, and regularly received advice on how to assume and maintain a good posture. The researchers then assessed the patients' pain levels using a questionnaire.

After 12 weeks, 55 per cent of the patients who were receiving treatment reported seeing an improvement, ranging from slightly improved to completely recovered. This compared to just 14 per cent in the control group. Researchers found that the mean number of muscles with active trigger points fell by 2.7 in the intervention group, compared with the control group.

Dr Carel Brown, lead researcher from the Radboud University Medical Centre in Holland, said: "The results show that 12-week comprehensive treatment reduces the number of muscles with active mysofascial trigger points."