Let's talk about Trigger points...
What are they? What do they do? Do they even exist? Do you have them? How do you treat them?
Okay, firstly there is some contradicting opinions about trigger points...Despite the confusion surrounding the mystery of them, in this blog post I will endeavour to clear up any major misconceptions and provide a little history to the subject.
Now, many people have many different ways of understanding and describing Trigger points. From tight spots, pain points, knots in the muscles or specific pathologies, the technical definition involves several elements such as a hyper-irritable nodule within a palpably taut band that elicits a twitching response to snapping palpation. They are thought to be caused by some sort of metabolic crisis in the muscle cells, causing a chemical irritation in the local area and for some unknown reason refer pain to other areas when pressed on. However, there is still a lot of controversy and debate around Trigger points, even skepticism as to whether they're real. Now, I am not personally willing to get into this debate, suffice to say that I personally believe with my professional expertise, they're not only real but also very treatable! The basis of my opinion has been formed throughout my own experiences, practiced and viewed on my own clientele.
So, acknowledging that they do exist, what do they feel like? This question is a little tricky as a Trigger point pain referral is not often just in the exact spot that the trigger is, ie. the Piriformis trigger point (a deep hip rotator) radiates pain that feels like Sciatica pain shooting down then leg to the foot.
How would you know if you have them?
With the following in mind, the best way to know is to have a competent Remedial therapist, Myotherapist, Physiotherapist or Osteopath assess your muscle pains. How can I know on my own?
Failing a therapist doing the work, massage balls are also a great tool to utilise isolating the spot that is troubling you. Push into the spot firmly and see if the pain refers or radiates away to another area. This is a pretty sure sign that a Trigger point is present.
But, how will I know? How do they feel? When it comes down to how they feel there are many different pains associated with trigger points. Whether it's sharp, aching, shooting or causing headaches; the critical element that makes it a trigger point is active referral to an area greater or other than the site of the trigger.
Okay, so how do I deal with them? Dealing with them is simple. The therapists mentioned above are all capable of dealing with and resolving trigger points. I've found through my clinical practice that the accurate use of dry needling and application of acupressure for a short duration for the most part effectively reduces all active Trigger points I have encountered with clients.
To sum up Trigger points do exist, referring pain patterns is how you tell they're there, and they're absolutely treatable! So don't put up with them.
Yours truly, Sean.
