Muscleskeletal pain in dysphonic women.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the location, frequency and intensity of muscle pain in dysphonic functional/organofunctional women in comparison to women with healthy voices.

METHODS: Sixty women, ranging in age from 18 to 45 years, divided into two groups: Dysphonic Group (DG) - 30 women with functional or organofunctional dysphonia; Non-Dysphonic Group (NDG) - 30 women without vocal complaints, and with adapted voices. All answered a protocol, marking the localization, frequency and intensity symptoms of pain on the temporal area, masseters, submandibular areas, larynx/pharynx, front and back of the neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, elbows, fists/hands/fingers, hip/this, knees and ankles/feet. The volunteer should report the frequency in which pain was present in the last 12 months: no, rarely, frequently or always. The intensity of pain was measured by visual-analogue scales. The DG and NDG groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney test (p<0.05).

RESULTS: The women of the DG reported significantly greater frequency of submandibular area (p=0.008), laryngeal pain (p<0.001), front of the neck (p=0.015), back of the neck (p=0.001), shoulder pain (p=0.027), upper back (p=0.027) and also reported significant greater intensity of pain in the larynx/pharynx (p=0.022) and back of the neck (p=0.003).

CONCLUSION: The frequency and intensity of musculoskeletal pain was more frequent and more intense in dysphonic women than in women without vocal complaints, showing that pain may be related to functional and organofunctional dysphonia in women.