WHAT IS A TRIGGER POINT INJECTIONS?
A trigger point injection (TPI) is a great option for treating pain and sore muscles. If you’re curious what a trigger point is, they usually are what we call knots. The reason the trigger point forms in the first place various, but usually due to repetitive use, trauma or underactivity. TPs may irritate the nerves around them and cause referred pain, which is why they are someone misdiagnosed.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A TRIGGER POINT INJECTION?
In the TPI procedure, a health care professional inserts a small needle into the patient’s trigger point. The injection contains a local anesthetic and usually includes a corticosteroid. With the injection, the trigger point is simply made inactive, and the pain alleviated. A few rounds are usually needed to completely get rid of the inflammation cycle. There are often several sites we inject in one visit. This is to ensure the problematic muscle is taken care of.
WHEN ARE TRIGGER POINT INJECTIONS USED?
At our office, we us TPI when there is considerable pain in a particular region or other therapies have not alleviated all the discomfort. There’s really not a single condition we treat under our commonly treated conditions page that couldn’t help by getting a TPI. The most common ailments we see that are treated with this therapy are tension headaches and herniated discs.