How to read referred pain maps
A practical method to go from a symptom on a body chart to the likely muscles that produced it.
Referred pain maps are tools, not diagnoses. Use them in three steps. First, locate the patient's main pain area on a body chart. Second, list the muscles whose referral patterns cover that area. Third, palpate those muscles and look for taut bands that reproduce the patient's familiar pain — this is the strongest single sign that a muscle is contributing.
A few rules help. Pain rarely refers across the midline from one side to the other. Referral is typically distal to the trigger point, but can spread proximally. And in chronic cases, expect overlapping patterns from several muscles.