Trigger Point Injections

What are Trigger Points?
Trigger Points (Myofascial Pain) are small “knots” or areas of spasm within a muscle. They may be tender or painful when touched. They can also cause a muscle to shorten which may result in limited painful restricted range of motion. Trigger points may also caused referred pain that is felt in other parts of the body when the trigger point is touched.

What is Trigger Point Therapy?
Trigger point therapy works to relieve chronic muscular pain. Trigger point can be manually massaged or stimulated by hand.
Trigger point injections are a form of pain management, involving the use small needles to inject lidocaine, an anesthetic. This injection breaks up the trigger points, alleviates pain and restores normal movement.

What Causes Trigger Points?
There are many causes such as automobile accidents, work related injuries, sports injuries, overuse, disc injuries, and other spinal related problems. Injured muscles experience inflammation, and go into spasm resulting in abnormal muscle activity and loss of blood flow and oxygen to the injured area. This may result in prolonged muscle contraction and chronic spasm which results in the formation of trigger points.

How Does Trigger Point Injection Treatments Work?

Trigger Point Therapy / Injections loosen the knots by helping to increase blood flow to the area. As the muscles regain normal circulation, there is often an immediate reduction of pain and soreness as the muscles begin to regain normal function. Ideally, therapy should continue over a number of weeks so the muscles may heal and the symptoms will improve. Treatment is minimally invasive, simple and quick. There is usually noticeable improvement after each visit.