Aug 2nd, 2017
Myofascial Trigger Points are painful, contracted knots of muscle fiber that can form in almost any muscle, including those in the neck, back, jaw, arms, or legs. These can be caused by direct injury to the muscle, or by lifestyle. While for some the cause can be obvious - say from a car accident is the root or cause of trigger points, for many others the cause is less obvious, stemming from normal, less-than-ideal daily activities. Many of us have jobs where we sit or stand for long periods of time, often with less than ideal posture; we repeat the same movements over and over again or maybe we don’t get much activity at all. Sometimes we have a lot of stress in our jobs or our lives outside of our jobs – as a result we tend to clench our muscles which presses on the nerves in the back of the neck causing trigger points.
For many of us it’s a combination of all of the above and this greatly increases the likelihood of forming these trigger points. They can be quite painful and can cause some or all of the following symptoms;
- Muscle pain, aching, tightness, and stiffness.
- Headaches.
- Pain that doesn’t feel muscular.
- Tingling, numbness, or burning resulting from nerve entrapment by the trigger point.
- Pain that radiates up or down, or to an adjacent area.
In fact, pain radiating from trigger points can cause pain and unusual sensations quite some distance from the actual location of the trigger points.
Symptoms of trigger points can be very disconcerting, and quite often lead people to their primary care physician to seek medication to control the symptoms. Pain medication, muscle relaxers, and even anti-anxiety medication might be prescribed to help reduce the symptoms. However, such medications deal only with the symptoms, rather than dealing with the cause directly. If it progresses, trigger points can become more widespread and chronic and are then referred to as Myofascial Pain Syndrome.
Many incidences of trigger points remain unrecognized, however more and more chiropractors and others specializing in musculoskeletal problems are dealing with these conditions with a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating: chiropractic, physical therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, and trigger point injections, as well as coaching to avoid lifestyle causes. This approach of directly dealing with the underlying cause of painful symptoms offers people hope for much better and longer lasting relief.
Prepared by Christopher Stewart, Chiropractic Intern.