Pain Management Through Trigger Point Injections

Normal muscle contracts and relaxes when it is active. A trigger point is a knot or tight, ropy band of muscle that forms when muscle fails to relax. The knot often can be felt under the skin and may twitch involuntarily when touched (called a jump sign). The trigger point can trap or irritate surrounding nerves and cause “referred pain” — pain felt in another part of the body. Scar tissue, loss of range of motion, and weakness may develop over time.

Trigger point injections (TPI) are used to release painful spasms inside individual muscles. Trigger point injections utilize lidocaine a local anesthetic (not a steroid), the same medicine used by dentists in children and adults when filling a cavity for example. The dosage used is very small, and only lidocaine free of any preservatives is used. Patients usually experience a substantial decrease in symptoms and an increase in overall progression towards healing.

Many pain management doctors and clinics report good benefit with trigger point injections for pain.

However, this pain is usually short lived. Depending on the type of medication used, the patient will often report immediate pain relief and will show less muscle guarding and spasm.

This is the perfect time to offer physical therapy or joint mobilization if indicated, and this is what separates our clinic from many of the others.

Therapy sessions preceded by trigger point injections have shown substantial improvements in both pain and function versus sessions without. Additionally, there are very few contraindications and results can be quite profound.

Immediate pain relief
Mild anti-inflammatory
Decreased guarding
Breakdown of scar tissue
Improved ranges of motion
Improved stretching and therapy session
Decreased overall time to completion of treatment protocol

If you are experiencing back pain, neck pain, muscle spasm, or stiffness, call our office today to schedule an immediate appointment so you can witness how our techniques may benefit you.