What Do Trigger Point Injections Treat?

A trigger point injection is an option for treating ongoing muscle pain and swelling. Injecting medicine into muscle lumps found in the neck, low back, and legs can ease your pain.

You can develop pain in your muscles for many reasons. Muscle tears from intense workouts or improper sleep positions are often contributors. The pain can have a tremendous impact on your usual ability to function.

Trigger point injections can help soothe these resultant muscle pains and discomforts.

Headaches

Trigger points from the shoulders up can cause tension headaches and migraines. For these, your doctor will give you a trigger point injection for instant relief from pain.

Using a small syringe, the doctor injects a measured dose of pain-easing medicine. The medication is usually an anesthetic or a steroid applied to the trigger point. This simple procedure does not need any preparation time or sedation.

Your doctor will sanitize your skin over the injection site beforehand. This is to lower your chance of bleeding or infection when administering the shot. After that, he or she will also apply pressure. If necessary, the doctor can give more than one injection to relieve chronic pain.

Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Myofascial pain syndrome is an illness affecting muscles and their connective tissue. If you suffer from myofascial pain syndrome, your muscles may ache. Tenderness or sensitivity to pressure. Touching these sensitive areas may cause pain in unrelated body parts. Physicians call this phenomenon “referred pain.” Scientists define this sensation as pain experienced in an uninjured body part.

Trigger point injections soothe your pain by calming the affected muscles. The injections block the path of nerve signals that trigger referred pain.

Issues that may trigger myofascial pain include mental stress and traumatic muscle injury. Repetitive or stressful muscle movements and improper posture can enhance the condition. Myofascial pain can cause muscular discomfort, weakness, stiffness, or restricted movement. It can cause increasing pain and knots that you can touch and feel in the muscle. These knots may be more painful when touched or when applying pressure. Trigger point medicine is sometimes injected directly into the knots.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a disease that causes pain throughout the body, lethargy, and sleep issues. It also causes mental and emotional distress. Fibromyalgia ranks as the second-worst condition affecting bones and muscles. The worst reported condition is back pain. Fibromyalgia is sometimes misdiagnosed because it shares some symptoms with arthritis.

Researchers have yet to discover what causes fibromyalgia. Yet, mental or physical trauma, infections, and family history are risk factors. Women are more predisposed to fibromyalgia, as well. A history of autoimmune conditions such as arthritis or lupus is also a risk factor. Reported symptoms often include headaches, anxiety, depression, and trouble concentrating. Itching, numbness, muscle pain, stiffness, and digestive difficulties are also potential symptoms.

To learn more about trigger point injection therapy treatments, visit Alicja Steiner, MD APC, at our office in San Diego, California. You can also call (619) 304-1539 to book an appointment today.