Trigger Point Injections in Dallas, Frisco, Prosper, and Wylie, TX
Peripheral Nerve Injections, Myofascial Pain Syndrome Treatment
Working 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, in front of a computer screen can cause significant damage to the body’s musculoskeletal system. If non-stop pressure causes a strain over time, this will eventually make a painful influential impact. If you have noticed stress or tension headaches, or if you feel like you can directly point to the area that needs relief, then trigger point injections may benefit the tension and muscle pain you’re having.
Generally, many patients with various types of muscle pain will notice relief of their symptoms after a few days of rest. However, patients who suffer from chronic muscle pain may benefit from speaking with SPORT Orthopedic Surgeons in Frisco, TX, and Dallas, TX. Our specialists are likely to find the best conservative treatment to ease or eliminate the tension points that are causing pain.
Don’t wait for your symptoms to become chronic. Call (469) 200-2832 to speak with a qualified health care professional in Frisco & Dallas. Pain management for muscle pain can often make a significant impact on a person’s ability to function and their overall quality of life. Trigger point injections give you a chance to take back control over your life, while providing an immediate pain relief benefit to patients who have chronic muscle pain.
What Are Trigger Points?
A trigger point refers to a tender or painful spot in the skeletal muscle. Some describe this point as feeling like a knot and, when touched, pain triggers the area within the muscle that’s irritated due to stress or overstimulation. As the pain gradually radiates, this can impact a person’s postures.
When the musculoskeletal system becomes overstimulated, painful trigger points within the muscle or joint can cause sensitivity, irritation, and tenderness. Sometimes, the pain radiates in a different area than it originated. This is called referred pain. An example of this could include tension headaches when the chronic pain condition’s source appears to be radiating from the back of your neck.
The common location for trigger points is in the head or neck region. While trigger points have been known to appear over various muscles in the body, the likelihood of appearance is still greater in the upper extremities.
For instance, patients frequently notice symptoms such as:
- Muscle pain in the jaw
- Tension headaches
- Ringing in the ears
- Pain that throbs near your eyes
Causes of Trigger Points
Trigger points are tender points of muscle that develop when the surrounding tissue of the muscle, called fascia (or myofascial trigger points) contracts and sticks to itself. A trigger point is generally identified as a bump below the skin, which in some patients can cause pain in the developed area. Other treatment cases involve referred pain; a trigger point causing pain in a different region of the body when it affects a nearby nerve.
The following are the most common causes of trigger points:
- An injury
- Long-term related health conditions or deficiencies
- Lack of exercise & poor nutrition
- Poor posture over time
- Sleep disturbances
- Recreational activities that cause wear & tear
- Repetitive stress
To understand more about what causes and leads to trigger point pain, continue reading for more helpful tips. If you’re searching to find relief from trigger points, contact the SPORT Orthopedics + Physical Therapy specialists located in the DFW area of Texas.
What Are Trigger Point Injections?
A trigger point injection, or TPI, may be a useful option to treat the painful areas of muscle that contain trigger points, or when the knots of muscle that have formed do not relax.
This pain management treatment entails a healthcare physician cleansing the injection site for the trigger point injection. Generally, a local anesthetic is administered to numb the injection site prior to the trigger point injection itself. By injecting small amounts of anesthetic and steroids into the trigger point, we’re able to provide some relief and avoid nerve damage using a relatively simple in-house procedure.
Trigger Point Injections Side Effects
Like most procedures, trigger point injections can potentially have side effects after administration. While these side effects are uncommon, they can include things like the following.
- Pain or discomfort at the injection site
- Temporary numbness or weakness
- Infection
- Bleeding
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Muscle twitching
- Allergic reactions
- Nerve damage
Do Trigger Point Injections Hurt?
Trigger point injections can cause some discomfort, but the pain at the active trigger point is usually minimal and brief. The injection itself might feel like a quick pinch or sting, followed by a sensation of pressure as the medication is injected. Some individuals might experience temporary soreness or tenderness at the injection site. The use of a local anesthetic often helps to numb the area, reducing pain during and immediately after the procedure.
Why Are Trigger Point Injections Used?
A trigger point injection provides pain relief.
Typically, trigger point injections are beneficial for several locations of the body that cause joint or muscle pain. Over time, those who cannot find relief from trigger points may find themselves in a position for several risk factors. This can include myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, headaches, or tension headaches.
Trigger point injections can also help stop muscle spasms and conditions relating to a local twitch response. To better understand why trigger point injections are used, continue reading about the common uses of this form of physical medicine.
However, if you’re already convinced that your muscles could benefit from a consultation at the SPORT Orthopedics + Physical Therapy doctor’s office, call (469) 200-2832 to speak with the SPORT team. Our team of orthopedic specialists is likely to provide immediate relief in just ONE visit.
For patients who seek pain management specialists for treatment options for immediate relief, we recommend speaking with a physician who specializes in orthopedic injuries, as we’re able to construct a long-term solution that benefits many patients.
Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Trigger point injections may relieve the symptoms associated with myofascial trigger points, a chronic condition that affects muscles and the surrounding tissue. In myofascial pain syndrome, a myofascial trigger point or myofascial trigger points stimulate pain responses in unrelated areas of the body.
Trigger point injections can reduce muscle pain by relaxing the affected muscles. Many researchers believe that these injections can also interrupt the nerve signaling pathways causing the referred pain.
Possible causes of myofascial trigger points include:
- Muscle injury or trauma
- Poor posture
- Psychological stress
- Repetitive motions
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that looks similar to arthritis. However, arthritis affects the joints while fibromyalgia affects the soft tissue.
While the exact cause of fibromyalgia is still unknown, risk factors can include:
- Infections
- Family history of fibromyalgia
- A personal history of an autoimmune disorder, such as lupus or RA
- Being female
- Physical or psychological trauma
Historically, physicians diagnosed fibromyalgia in those who reported pain or tenderness in specific trigger points. Unlike myofascial pain, which can cause localized muscle pain, fibromyalgia causes widespread pain.
Many researchers believe that myofascial trigger points contribute to fibromyalgia pain.
Headaches
Trigger point injections work for headaches, while a heating pad works for abdominal cramps. Migraines and tension headaches can bring on chronic symptoms that cover the top of your head all the way through your neck and shoulders. Trigger point injections can help bring immediate relief to a patient who suffers from chronic headaches.
Do Trigger Point Injections Work?
Although everyone tolerates pain and the side effects of medication differently, most individuals find relief from trigger point injections within a matter of 10-15 minutes. Pain medication can’t even work that fast in pill form. Your chronic pain could be gone in just ten minutes. That’s only one visit to the doctor’s office for relief, and one day off from work.
If your research dedicated to finding a solution has led you to try trigger point injections to resolve the discomforting battles of muscle pain, look no further! Trigger point injections have helped many individuals with agonizing pain within the same day. Call (469) 200-2832 to speak with the Frisco & Dallas Texas SPORT Orthopedics + Physical Therapy specialist.
Can Trigger Point Injections Reduce Referred Pain?
Trigger point injections can often be used as a primary option to help with symptoms of referred pain. Additionally, trigger point injections may help by blocking the nerve signaling pathways that generally cause pain and tenderness in the muscle. These injections provide many benefits, like soothing weak muscles, encouraging tranquility for those with irritated nerves, and improving the range of motion and posture.
What Steroid Is Used for Trigger Point Injections?
The most commonly used steroid for trigger point injections is triamcinolone acetonide, though other steroids such as methylprednisolone or betamethasone can also be used. These corticosteroids help reduce inflammation and pain in the affected muscle tissue. The choice of steroid and its dosage depend on the individual’s condition and the healthcare provider’s preference. The steroid is often combined with a local anesthetic, such as lidocaine, to provide immediate pain relief while the steroid works on reducing inflammation over time.
What Happens During a Trigger Point Injection?
This outpatient procedure carries minimum risks for those in considerably good health.
Generally, during the set-up for your procedure:
- The doctor will first ensure the needle is wiped for sterilization with a safe and secured alcohol-based sanitizer. The patient’s injection site is then also wiped for any infectious causing bacteria prior to insertion.
- Once disinfectants have been applied, the doctor will likely request your assistance to relax your injection site region in preparation for application. Typically, relaxing the muscle injection site during the initial application of anesthetic helps patients feel less pressure from the injection. Applying lidocaine will help encourage numbness to the injection site.
- After local anesthetics have been applied, the doctor will place a small needle containing the appropriate medication into the patient’s trigger point.
- Trigger point monitoring will then occur to watch for your symptoms. After medications are administered, doctors typically will want to wait a certain time period before allowing you to leave. Common side effects can occur for anyone when they first try a new medication. A doctor will likely observe monitoring checks for an allergic reaction, issues at the injection site, any rare cases of dry needling causing bleeding, and any signs of potential infection at the injection site.
During the administering of the trigger point injections, we expect the patients’ local twitch response to occur, similarly to how one would react during dry needling. Most report this as causing them minimum pain throughout the entire procedure. Some patients even swear by physical medicine and its immediate relief being highly result-driven, in comparison to alternative pain management options.
What to Expect After Trigger Point Injections
After trigger point injections, most patients feel significant relief from their chronic pelvic pain, musculoskeletal pain, or other condition that led them to seek treatment. Some mild soreness or tenderness at the injection site is common, but it usually subsides within a few days. Depending on your underlying condition and your body’s reaction to the injection, you may benefit from multiple injections spaced out over an extended period of time. Those suffering from chronic pain can greatly benefit from trigger point management.
How Long Do Trigger Point Injections Last?
Although a trigger point injection works to eliminate the current pain by providing some much-needed relief, the point injection affects everyone differently.
For some, the trigger point injection could completely eliminate your pain for good. However, this is mainly seen in patients with no underlying health conditions whose reason for the injection is related to a specific physical activity that caused the trigger point pain. These individuals have permanently discontinued that specific action and therefore, should see permanent results from the trigger point injection.
However, when the diagnosis includes an underlying health condition such as fibromyalgia or myofascial pain syndrome, the likelihood of needing recurring trigger point injections is high. Patients who want minimum risks of further complications and want a more comfortable life may require more than one round of trigger point injections.
The frequency of a trigger point injection depends on the medicine type and purpose for use when administering injectable medicine.
For example, should only anesthetics be administered, then the injections can be taken at monthly intervals.
Generally, with steroid medicine, more risks are involved with more frequent intervals. For this reason, this particular type of medicine is only allowed in limiting intervals which will be up to our doctor and their specific treatment plan for you.
Patients who benefit from injections of steroid medicine, report injections for trigger point pain relief for several months.
How Many Trigger Point Injections Can You Have in a Year?
Generally, patients should receive no more than three or four trigger point injections annually. However, depending on the trigger point location and the purpose of the injection (such as to treat myofascial pain caused by trigger points), the suggested frequency of injections can vary. Providers limit the number of steroid injections one can receive in a year because they carry the risk of tissue damage.
Frisco, Prosper, Wylie, and Dallas Orthopedic Specialist for Localized Pain
If you are looking to get immediate results from ONE visit, call (469) 200-2832 to speak with the Frisco & Dallas Texas SPORT Orthopedics + Physical Therapy team for your treatment options. Various types of treatment and procedure options exist with low risk.
If tender points of tissue cause your chronic muscle pain, call to see how the trigger point injections can ease your chronic pain. Every orthopedic healthcare professional at SPORT Orthopedics cares deeply for our patients. We also want to help you prevent further complications from occurring.
Many times, pain management specialists don’t care about fixing the problem at hand. If we see another approach to heal your trigger point pain, our orthopedic specialists have the means, equipment, and training to do so. If the best treatment for chronic pain is a trigger point injection, then we’ll educate you on the risks and benefits associated with the procedure.
