Trigger Point Injections (TPI)

Trigger Point Injections, also called TPI’s, are Intra-Muscular injections of a local anesthetic, and often an Anti-Inflammatory steroid, into the muscle sites that are contributing to your pain.

Chronic muscular pain usually results from an injury to a muscle, such as from a sprain or strain. The presence of trigger points could be the primary muscle problem or could be secondary to trauma, scar tissue formation, fibromyalgia, surgery and many other conditions. A trigger point is a traumatized area in the muscle, feels like a knot or a tight, taut band of the muscle, and it is tender to deep pressure or palpation.

These trigger points may occur in any area of the body but most commonly they develop in the neck, shoulders and low back. The trigger point can trap and irritate surrounding nerves and causes a referred pain i.e. pain felt in another part but with close proximity to the original site. Multiple trigger points may have overlapping areas of referred pain.

It is very important to be examined by an experienced Spine Specialist to rule out more serious conditions that can have similar presentation

Sometimes, the muscular pain persists despite all conservative treatments. Then, TPI’s may be tried to alleviate your pain.

Trigger Point Injections Effect

A spasm normally happens after an injury but may also be from chronic muscle irritation and stress. When a muscle spasms, blood flow to the muscle is decreased. This causes the spasm to continue and/or worsen, leading to a vicious cycle of increased muscle spasms, decreased blood flow and increased pain.

Trigger point injections temporarily numb and relax the muscle sites involved in your pain complaints. This allows you to stretch these muscles more effectively than you would be able to otherwise, and also increase blood flow through that muscle, allowing the muscle to relax, thereby alleviating the spasm.  This condition is typically not fixed by surgery.

It will be important for you to continue with targeted stretching exercises no matter how much relief you obtain, in order to avoid recurrence of the condition.

Sometimes the first set of trigger point injections result in partial sustained relief, then a series of these injections may provide you with a greater degree of sustained relief as compared with only one set of injections.

What to Expect with the Procedure

If it is determined that you will benefit from trigger point injections:

• Before the injection, the locations of the trigger points in your muscles will be identified and marked.
• You may be sitting or lying down for the procedure depending on where the injection sites are located
• Your skin is then cleaned with antiseptic swabs.
• A very tiny needle is inserted into the muscle bundle and the Local Anesthetic +/- Steroid is injected when you begin to experience the pain in the muscle.
• Increased pressure or pain during the procedure is normal, it will ease up once the needle is out.
• After the injection, the needle is removed and a Band-Aid may be applied at the injection site
• This process is repeated in other locations until all trigger points are addressed, at which point the procedure is complete.

If You or Your Loved ones might be suffering from Muscle Pain or has Myofascial Pain Syndrome, Contact Us today to schedule your Appointment.