Trigger Point Therapy

"Oh, that's the spot, Doc!"

Patients are often amazed that we can find, just by feeling, the painful spot. Trigger points are highly sensitive spots in muscle bands that trigger painful responses and are characterized by heightened pain in the patient and a noticeable hardness to the doctor or therapist. Trigger points are not just tender nodules, but they affect the surrounding muscle and tissues.

A form of soft tissue therapy, trigger point therapy, first coined by Dr. Janet Travell who treated President John F. Kennedy for his back pain, is founded on the theory that pain in one part of the body can actually be caused by an injury or dysfunction somewhere else. Chiropractic treatment of the spinal nerve injuries and dysfunctions is complementary.

Trigger points are areas of tenderness in a muscle. Trigger point therapy involves the application of pressure to these painful, tender areas in order to relieve their pain and dysfunction as well as pain in other parts of the body. Sometimes massage and trigger point therapy are applied together. Theoretically, active trigger points cause muscle pain which passes pain and tenderness to other parts of the body when pressed. Latent trigger points are those that don't hurt unless pressed, but they are presumed to cause joint stiffness and reduced ranges of motion as we age.

By including trigger point therapy, the doctor or therapist presses on these painful points to relax the muscle and tissues affected. Even as the application of pressure on a trigger point may cause your pain to become more noticeable, it has the strange effect of feeling good at the same time. You will find that trigger point therapy in combination with your Chiropractic Cox Technic treatment goes far to move you toward pain relief.

Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center offers trigger point therapy to enhance your healing. Ask Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center for more information.