Trigger Point Therapy: What are trigger points? What causes them? And of course, what is The Answer to resolving them?
Trigger points are the small, sensitive knots or nodules that often form in injured or stressed muscle tissue. These injuries or stressors can be caused by any number of factors: accidents, overuse, repetitive movement, tension, poor posture, bad work station design, etc. These knots occur when individual muscle fibers are over-stimulated and self-perpetuating until they are unable to release their contracted state. This state of continuous contraction reduces blood flow to the area, resulting in a diminished supply of oxygen and a build up of metabolic waste. The contracted area (or trigger point) in the muscle fiber becomes irritated and reacts by sending out pain signals which also serves to perpetuate the spasm. It's a vicious cycle of pain and inflammation.
Trigger points can deactivate or release on their own, but often they remain in either an active state or a latent state for years unless treated. In the active state they cause continual pain. In the latent state the pain subsides, but the trigger point remains and is vulnerable to being reactivated.
There are several types of therapy used to treat trigger points including: deep stroking massage, trigger point injection, ischemic compression, and "spray and stretch". We'll discuss deep stroking massage here since it is the safest most effective method.
Professional massage by a trigger point therapist is probably the best method of trigger point treatment, but self massage offers many benefits: