Klineberg, I, McGregor, N, Butt, H et al. · The Alpha omegan · 1998
This study looked at different types of muscle pain conditions, including fibromyalgia and jaw pain, and found they affect men and women differently. The researchers suggest that some people may be genetically vulnerable to chronic pain, and that infections at the start of illness might play a role. They found links between abnormal fat levels, muscle metabolism problems, and fibromyalgia, which may also be connected to chronic fatigue syndrome.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS patients because it proposes potential shared biological mechanisms—including post-infectious onset, genetic vulnerability to pain syndromes, and metabolic abnormalities—that may connect fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Understanding these overlapping mechanisms could help researchers identify common pathways and develop more targeted treatments for patients with multiple pain conditions.
This review does not establish causation between infections, lipid anomalies, and fibromyalgia/ME/CFS—it only reports associations. The study does not provide evidence that genetic vulnerability is the primary driver of disease, nor does it prove that abnormal muscle metabolism is a cause rather than a consequence of chronic pain. The high prevalence of reported infections at onset does not prove they trigger the disease in all cases.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Klineberg, I, McGregor, N, Butt, H, Dunstan, H, Roberts, T, & Zerbes, M (1998). Chronic orofacial muscle pain: a new approach to diagnosis and management.. The Alpha omegan. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9927897/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-klineberg-1998-chronic-orofacial,
author = {Klineberg, I and McGregor, N and Butt, H and Dunstan, H and Roberts, T and Zerbes, M},
title = {Chronic orofacial muscle pain: a new approach to diagnosis and management.},
journal = {The Alpha omegan},
year = {1998},
note = {PubMed: 9927897},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/klineberg-1998-chronic-orofacial},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/klineberg-1998-chronic-orofacial
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