Chronic pain often stays locked inside tight knots in your muscle tissue. These knots, known as trigger points, can cause spasms, sharp discomfort, and radiating pain. If you deal with persistent muscle tension or myofascial pain, your healthcare provider may suggest trigger point therapy.
Learning what happens during an appointment helps ease anxiety. Here is a clear breakdown of exactly what you will experience from the moment you walk into the treatment room.
Finding the Knots
The physical examination starts at the beginning of your session. Depending on where you are experiencing the pain, you will either sit or lie down. Your health practitioner will then press into your muscles using their fingers. This will help them identify tense cords of tissues.
When the provider presses on a true trigger point, you will feel a localized ache. At times, this can lead to muscle twitching. It can also lead to referred pain, meaning that the sensation is felt somewhere else in the body entirely.
For instance, pushing on a knot in your neck could result in pain around your eyes.
The Injection Process
Once your provider identifies the problem areas, they clean your skin with alcohol. Trigger point therapy may involve an injection of local anesthetic or a dry needling technique, depending on the treatment approach.
Most sessions use a local anesthetic like lidocaine. This medication numbs the immediate area to give you fast relief. In some cases, providers use a dry needling technique with no medication at all. The physical movement of the needle itself helps relax the muscle fibers.
You will feel a pinch or a deep ache when the needle enters the knot. This sensation is common when the needle reaches a sensitive trigger point. The actual injection takes only a few seconds per muscle group. The entire procedure usually finishes in less than fifteen minutes.
Immediate Aftercare
You can stand up and move around right after the procedure. Your provider will check your pain levels and give you a few instructions. Many people feel relief from their chronic tightness almost immediately as the anesthetic takes effect.
You might notice mild bruising or soreness around the injection site for a couple of days. Applying ice packs for twenty minutes at a time helps reduce this temporary swelling. Your provider may also show you gentle stretching exercises to keep the muscle relaxed.
Long-Term Benefits
Most patients need a short series of treatments to get the best results. The therapy breaks the cycle of muscle spasms so your tissue can heal. As the muscle relaxes, blood flow improves and your range of motion increases.
This procedure is most effective if it is combined with physical therapy or posture correction. This way, you will be dealing with the underlying cause of muscle pain, which means that the knots will not reform.
Schedule Your Visit
If you struggle with daily muscle pain, you need expert care from trusted specialists. The highly skilled physicians at The Family Pain and Wellness provide innovative intervention methods that can help relieve pain.
Our clinic specializes in proper diagnosis and effective pain management techniques. Visit The Family Pain and Wellness now for an appointment and take charge of your physical well-being.