At Summit Healthcare Pain Clinic Associates, Dr. Trujillo uses trigger point injections for our patients from Show Low and the surrounding areas. Trigger point injections encourage knotted muscles to relax, eliminating the pain they were causing.
What is a trigger point?
A trigger point is a highly sensitive bundle of muscle fibers that have been tensed for such a period, whether due to overuse or enduring stress, that they cannot relax, and they turn into a small knot. Unlike an area of muscle tightness or fatigue that can be wide in scope, trigger points are very specific spots that can be quite painful to the touch.
Are there other reasons for developing trigger points?
The main reason you develop these muscle knots is from overuse or from continued clenching due to anxiety or stress. But other factors can also increase your odds of developing a trigger point:
- Repetitive movements
- Hunched or slouching posture
- Joint problems, such as with arthritis
What are trigger point injections?
At Summit Healthcare Pain Clinic Associates, we help our patients with this acute muscle pain with trigger point injections. Here’s how Dr. Trujillo delivers these.
He first feels for the trigger point. He’ll ask for your feedback as he pushes on the area of your pain. When he locates the trigger point, we clean the surface skin. In most cases, we then apply a topical numbing cream. Once the skin is numb, Dr. Trujillo inserts a needle containing a mixture of Lidocaine (anesthetic) and a corticosteroid down into the knot of the muscle and dispense the mixture into the location. The Lidocaine instantly provides pain relief; the corticosteroid reduces inflammation, which causes the muscle to relax and release the trigger point.
We find that trigger point injections, thanks to the longevity of corticosteroid effects, often fully relieve the patient’s pain for months or even permanently. We can target various trigger points in a single session, if needed.
Do you have a knot in back or neck? Call us at Summit Healthcare Pain Clinic, (855) 768-4968, and let’s see if trigger point injections could help.
