Trigger point injections are a pain treatment which treats painful areas of knotted muscle. These knots, or trigger points, can often be felt just underneath the skin. Trigger points may irritate the nerves surrounding them and cause referred pain, meaning that pain is felt in another part of the body.
Trigger points are focal areas of muscle spasms and inflammation. The rhomboid and trapezius back muscles are a common site for trigger points. Trigger points in your upper back and shoulder area, often result in neck pain, shoulder pain, jaw pain, and headaches. When trigger points are pushed on, pain often radiates from the trigger point itself into the area surrounding it.
Causes for Trigger Points:
- Injury or trauma to a muscle
- Repetitive Motions resulting in muscle tightness
- Poor Posture
- Psychological Stress
What Happens During a Trigger Point Injection?
Trigger point injections are used to treat many muscle groups especially in the arms, legs, lower back, and neck. This pain treatment can help with fibromyalgia and tension headaches as well as myofascial pain syndrome. Fortunately, imaging is not needed to diagnose trigger points.
During the procedure, the doctor will press on the areas you have pain to locate the trigger point. Then they will insert a small needle into the area and inject a mixture of anesthetic and saline; some injections may also include a corticosteroid. With this injection, your trigger points should turn inactive and alleviate pain.
This procedure only takes about 15 minutes. You may have several treatments over the course of a few weeks. However, after the initial treatments, you’ll have to wait 2 months before you can receive another treatment.
Risk
Risks for trigger point injection pain treatments include soreness and numbness at the injection site. Though uncommon, bleeding and infection at the injection site may occur.
After the Procedure
After your trigger point injection treatment, you can return to your everyday activities unless they are strenuous. Strenuous activities may aggravate your pain, however, if you wait a few days before engaging in these activities, you shouldn’t have any problems.
Is Trigger Point Injection Therapy Right for Me?
If your muscle pain has not improved with pain medication and physical therapy, you may benefit from trigger point injections. Additionally, if you have muscles that will not relax, being continuously tight, you may benefit from this treatment. Trigger point injections may also help you if you have chronic headaches.
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