Trigger Point Therapy

Take a moment and ask yourself “How do you feel?”

Most of us will think “fine”, although that's not really what I'm asking. Think,

how do your shoulders feel? Low back?

Do they feel good and relaxed or tight?

Or better yet, where does your daily stress go?

Most of us are able to point to a spot where our stress goes. This area is usually where we find a muscle knot, also known as a “Muscular Trigger Point” These trigger points often feel as a never ending cycle of tight, painful and annoying sources of agony. Most people know that massage therapy can help alleviate these knots although there is a little known secret to getting trigger points under control.

How to release a trigger point:

Muscle fibers when happy and healthy run linear to each other, and when the muscle contracts the fibers slide next to each other, thus shortening the length of the muscle and giving us movement. When we have a trigger point, the fibers for a lack of better words, get tangled and cause that small point in the muscle to spasm. Trigger point therapy is done by nurse practitioners, physician assistants or medical doctors. They first locate the trigger point by feeling the muscle and coordinating with the patient where the source of their pain is. Once the trigger points are identified the therapy is done by a small injection into the epicenter of the knot and this allows the muscle knot to finally release. They also typically inject a small amount of lidocaine which is a short lasting numbing medicine. This helps the knot almost immediately feel improvement.

Many patients will incorporate trigger point therapy in conjunction with massage therapy to get the most relief from their muscle knots. When trigger point therapy is added to a person's repertoire they improve quickly.

-Dr. Redman