What are trigger points?
Trigger points are knots in your muscles that cause focused musculoskeletal pain and tenderness. They often grow over musculoskeletal injuries like microscopic muscle tears or trauma. Depending on their locations, they can even limit your mobility.
If you have many trigger points, you might have a condition called myofascial pain syndrome. Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic musculoskeletal condition causing widespread pain in your muscles and tissues.
The trigger points associated with myofascial pain syndrome can also cause referred pain or pain that appears unassociated to the trigger point.
What are trigger point injections?
Trigger point injections involve releasing the knots. Depending on your pain and symptoms, the team uses one of these medications in your trigger point injections:
- Local anesthetic for pain relief
- Corticosteroids to reduce inflammation
- Botulinum toxin to stop muscle spasms
Finding pain relief with trigger point injections can help improve your quality of life and even your mobility. During the procedure, you might feel a crunch as the needle enters your skin. This goes away as your muscle relaxes.
You can use your muscle immediately after your injections, but you should avoid strenuous physical activity for several days.
How do I know if I need trigger point injections?
To find out if you have trigger points, myofascial pain syndrome, or other neuromuscular conditions, the team at 43rd St. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation uses diagnostic procedures like electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV).
Electromyography measures the electrical signals from your motor neurons and makes them into a visual graph. NCV, often a part of EMG, assesses nerve damage causing tingling, numbness, or burning.
How long does the relief from trigger point injections last?
People respond to trigger point injections in different ways. You might feel some immediate pain relief, or it might be several days or weeks before you notice a lasting improvement.
If trigger point injections work to relieve your pain, you can expect the effect to last for several weeks or months.
If you’re happy with the results of your trigger point injections and the pain eventually comes back, you can talk to the team at 43rd St. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation about scheduling regular trigger point injections for long-term management.
For more information about trigger points and trigger point injections, call 43rd St. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation or book an appointment online today.
