Trigger Point Injections For Chronic Back And Neck Pain
Pain is a very real and debilitating problem in our society. Everyone deals with pain at some point in their lifetime while others may deal with pain daily. Currently, there are continued debates and guidelines written by pain specialists on how to best treat acute and chronic pain complaints. With the current opioid epidemic that continues to plague Americans, providers are using less opioid pain medication and more procedural based techniques to help patients combat pain issues.
The human body has about 600 muscles which are subdivided into 3 types: smooth, skeletal and cardiac. Our brain, nerves and skeletal muscles work in conjunction causing our bodies to move. Muscles are either voluntary or involuntary. We need not ask our hearts to pump, hence, that is an involuntary muscle. However, we do ask our brain to pick up a pencil, thus a voluntary group of muscles and nerve fibers along with brain function make that movement occur.
As you can see, muscles play an integral part in our daily lives. Muscles are often very overlooked as a source of pain and are unfortunately, often ignored as a result. Muscles are hard at work and sometimes just get very overworked for many reasons including posture, desk jobs, exercise, lifting, bending and prolonged standing, just to name a few. Muscles get fatigued, achy, tight and sore. When they reach the point of complete overexertion, they can become hard to treat and cause referred pain to other areas of the body. Have you ever had chronic soreness and tightness in the muscles of the neck that lead to headaches? We call that referred pain.
Trigger point injections are a very effective tool to help providers alleviate pain and make those stubborn muscles behave. Using a needle and some local anesthetic, the muscle can be injected and made to release by the needle. As a provider who offers trigger points, I try to make the experience as comfortable as possible. Using cold spray on the skin to avoid feeling most of the needle stick. My goal is to release the “knots’’ within the muscle that keeps the muscle from contracting and working efficiently thus reducing the amount of pain that is generated from the muscle tissue.
Come see us at MovewellMD! We are conveniently located in the financial district of manhattan and offer other alternative methods of treatment includiding chiropractic, acupuncture and massage. We use a very holistic and patient centered approach to help relieving your pain. Trigger point injections are offered here and can be a effective tool in managing muscle pain.
