What is a Trigger Point & Trigger Point Therapy?

More and more people are talking about trigger point therapy since David Beckham was spotted with a trigger point foam roller on his way into a plane. You can see that here...

But just what exactly is a trigger point and what does trigger point therapy and a nobly foam roller have to do with them? Our Physiotherapist Cameron is here to explain.

What is a trigger point?

Put simply, a trigger point is a “knot” in your muscle.

That niggly little pain you have in your shoulder, or the even the cause of that pounding headache. To get a little more technical they are areas of tight muscle tissue (commonly referred to as myofascial trigger points) that are tender to touch, can affect your range of movement, and can cause characteristic referred pain like headaches.

There are two kinds of trigger points – active and latent.

Active Trigger Points

Active trigger points can cause pain both locally or sometimes even in other seemingly unrelated areas – this is the referred pain mentioned above.

Latent Trigger Points

In comparison, latent points won’t be painful all the time but when pressure or strain is applied they’ll hurt and even change muscle activation patterns.

So how does trigger point therapy help?

Step 1: Identifying trigger points

Trigger point therapy is a commonly used technique in physiotherapy practice to alleviate pains cause by knotted muscles.

The trigger point is identified by careful palpation of the muscle from its origin to its insertion. We’ll be feeling for tight bands or nodules and may apply pressure to the tender points to see if these areas elicit pain.

The best way to confirm a trigger point is with a local twitch response. “A what?” I hear you say! A local twitch response is basically, a very fast contraction of the muscle tissue. If this twitch also reproduces pain, then bingo, we’ve found the likely source of your symptoms.

Step 2: Relieving trigger point pain

Once trigger points have been identified and confirmed it’s time to work on relieving the pain. There are several methods to do this. Your physio can choose from a whole number of ways depending on the area being treated.

Treating trigger points with trigger point therapy

Trigger point release may be one part of your physiotherapist’s treatment for you after your injury. It is great at relieving pain and helping to improve movement. But be careful, it doesn’t actually treat the reason the trigger point developed and appeared in the first place.

Dry needling, stretching & heat

We also might go with other techniques such as dry needling, stretching, heat and massage. These will all work to reduce the irritation caused by the trigger point, and often a combination of these techniques will be used.

There are also some handy things your physiotherapist can teach you to do at home to help relieve pain from your trigger points. These include using a foam roller and spiky ball.

Using these self-massage techniques allows you to quickly and effectively relieve your pain on your own.

What’s causing the trigger point?

Trigger point relief effects like these are a great way to quickly relieve pain – but the quick pain relieving effects can sometimes be to a detriment.

Once the pain disappears, people feel they are better even when the cause of the problem has still not been discovered. We’ll work with you to find a long-term solution and identify why the trigger points developed. We can then create an individualised exercise programme to help strengthen and correct imbalances or avoid the poor posture that may have lead to development of trigger points.

Conclusion

Trigger points can be irritating and a sign of a bigger problem, but luckily they’re easily handled with the right exercise and a few tweaks to your lifestyle. So if you’ve got a knot that’s bothering you, drop in today and see how we can help.

 

Cameron Steptoe - Physiotherapist, Back In Motion Richmond

Cameron graduated with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from the University of Otago in New Zealand and has previously worked in various aged care residences, public hospital wards and private practices. Cameron worked as a sports medic for a premier  1 rugby union team in his home town of Dunedin.  During this time he developed a keen interest in musculoskeletal and sports injuries. Cameron provides the following services: sports, spinal and musculoskeletal physiotherapy, massage, customised orthotics, Clinical Exercise and dry needling.