Trigger Point Therapy

Trigger point therapy seeks to treat pain related to a discrete, irritable point in a skeletal muscle, not caused by acute trauma, inflammation or injury. The painful point can be felt as a band in the muscle and a twitch response can be drawn on the simulation of the trigger point. These twitch responses are created through applied pressure to the trigger point, palpation of the trigger point then reproduces the patient’s complaint of pain, and the pain radiates in a distribution typical of the specific muscle harbouring the trigger point.

Activation of trigger points may be caused by a number of factors, ranging from; muscle overload, activation by other trigger points, direct trauma to the region through to infections or health issues such as smoking. Trigger points form only in muscles, from a local contraction of small number or muscle fibres, these in turn can pull on tendons and ligaments associated with the muscle which can cause deep pain within the muscles and joints.