Why Does That One Spot in Your Muscle Hurt?

• More than likely, you have developed a trigger point. Trigger points and other myofascial restrictions can cause intense pain. Luckily, trigger point therapy is a simple, non-invasive way to release those tight spots and resolve your pain.

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What is a Trigger Point?

• To understand trigger points, we need to understand the make-up of a muscle. Each of your muscles consists of bundles of muscle fibers, which are enclosed in a web of collagen known as “fascia”. Fascia runs through and around every muscle in your body and acts as the glue holding your muscle fibers together. Myofascial trigger points are an extremely common cause of pain. Trigger points are painful when pressed on, cause a shortening of the muscle fibers, and have a special property called referred pain. 

• Referred pain means that a trigger point in one muscle can create pain in another area. An example of this is when the muscle at the top of your shoulder (trapezius) has a trigger point it will refer pain up the side of your neck and head causing a headache

 

What Causes Trigger Points?

• Weakness, small tears, stress, dehydration, and poor diet can cause trigger point formations. 

 

• When muscle fibers are overworked or injured they become unable to relax, this can cause a mini contraction in a small area of the fascia or muscle fiber. This stretches the muscle band on either side of the trigger point. The muscle knot restricts blood flow to the area, which “starves” the muscle of necessary oxygen and nutrients leading to a build up of waste material within the muscle cells.

 

 

 

How Does Trigger Point Therapy / Myofascial Release Work?

• Myofascial release and trigger point therapy are two common treatment options to help release trigger points. These treatments help to increase blood flow and encourage muscle release. Myofascial release and trigger point therapy works to release a trigger point by pushing fresh blood in and flushing waste material out. This helps relieve some of your pain by bringing more oxygen into the area and encouraging the muscles to release.

 

• Other techniques, such as PNF and PIR stretching which can trick your muscles into releasing trigger points through stretching and movement.