Plainville Chiropractic Care: Trigger Point Therapy

"Oh, that's the spot, Doc!"

Patients are frequently astonished that we can find, just by feeling, the painful area. Trigger points are highly sensitive spots in muscle bands that provoke painful responses and are identified by heightened soreness in the patient and an apparent hardness to the doctor or therapist. Trigger points are not just tender nodules, but they affect the surrounding muscle and tissues.

A type of soft tissue therapy, trigger point therapy, first formulated by Dr. Janet Travell who treated President John F. Kennedy for his back pain, is established on the theory that pain in one part of the body can actually be brought about by an injury or dysfunction somewhere else. chiropractic treatment of the spinal nerve injuries and dysfunctions is complementary.

Trigger points are areas of tenderness in a muscle. Trigger point therapy incorporates applied pressure to these sore, tender spots in order to relieve their pain and dysfunction as well as pain in other parts of the body. Sometimes massage and trigger point therapy are used together. Theoretically, active trigger points bring about muscle pain which passes pain and tenderness to other parts of the body when pressed. Latent trigger points are those that don't hurt unless pressed, but they are believed to cause joint stiffness and decreased ranges of motion as we age.

By incorporating trigger point therapy, the doctor or therapist presses on these painful points to relax the muscle and tissues affected. Even as the application of pressure on a trigger point might cause your soreness to become more noticeable, it has the odd effect of feeling good at the same time. You will discover that trigger point therapy in connection with your chiropractic Cox Technic treatment goes far to move you toward pain relief.

Layden Chiropractic provides trigger point therapy to maximize your healing. Ask Layden Chiropractic for more information.