Trigger Point Injections

Who can benefit from Trigger Point Injection therapy?

This therapy is indicated for relief of acute and chronic pain in muscles that have been strained or injured, are in spasm, or have chronic tension. Often, pressing on specific areas of the muscle triggers a pain sensation, hence the term Trigger Point. Injecting into those points reduces or eliminates tension and pain and restores motion. Almost any muscle can be treated using this technique including shoulders, back, hips and legs. It can be used to relieve recent pain as well as resolving conditions that have been present for many years.

How Trigger point injections work

The injections might feel something like an acupuncture treatment with a slight to moderate sensation of pain. Occasionally you might experience more pain if an injected area has been inflamed for a long time or is in acute spasm.

The injection only penetrates into the muscle, never as far as a joint or tendon/ligament attachments to the bone, and rarely needs to be deep. Occasionally someone might experience some slight swelling, bruising or inflammation after the injection but this can be decreased with post treatment care explained by Dr Egan after the treatment.

History of Trigger Point Injection Therapy

This treatment has been around since the 1960s; over time, the procedure has become more refined and now there are several injection methods. Often a local anesthetic such as Lidocaine is used, but many alternative health care practitioners have adopted more natural methods, including injecting homeopathic products such as Traumeel. Rather than just blocking a pain message, homeopathic products help stimulate the body to heal. This often results in greater success than dry needling or just injecting an anesthetic, and there is often less post-injection discomfort. The homeopathic effect usually creates progressive improvement with each treatment. The number of treatments required varies depending upon the condition.

Homeopathic products act differently than drugs, and this treatment is not the same as Cortisone (steroid) injections. Those injections often need to be deep in the muscle and can be very painful. While they can be effective, repeat treatment is often required as the drug effect wears off over time and there is a limit to how many cortisone injections can be given in a particular body area, as this drug can actually cause long-term damage to the muscle or bone in the injected area.