You may have heard of trigger points or trigger point therapy and how chiropractic care for trigger points has helped patients where other treatments have failed. But do you know what they are and how they are treated?

Trigger points sometime develop at various nerve receptors following an injury when waste accumulates around the nerve point. Not detected on MRI or X-ray, they sometimes feel like a tight band of fibers or nodule on palpation.

They can develop after an accident, surgery or when muscles are overused or injured otherwise. When they are active, trigger points can be felt as tense or tight, pins and needles, hot or cold, sharp pain or a dull ache. Sometimes, trigger points can have secondary symptoms such as nausea, ear ache, tinnitus, blurred vision and equilibrium disturbance.

Trigger points can also be latent. They too are formed when the injury occurs, but do not produce symptoms until later on when the muscle is stressed. Left untreated, acute and latent trigger points can produce a “satellite” trigger point that will be found in another area of the body.

To treat trigger points, pressure is applied to the area, released and applied again in a pumping action as the patient is asked to breathe deeply. This is known as releasing trigger points and the action flushes toxins. Trigger point release also provides pain relief and energy as endorphins are released.

Trigger point therapy provided by your local Oak Lawn, IL chiropractor is effective treatment for post injury trigger points as well as in chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Trigger points are also common in athletes and any number of professionals who are required to overuse various muscle groups. They are often the underlying cause for continued pain, long after an injury should have healed.

Call us today to schedule an appointment for evaluation and treatment.

By Nathan Ruof D.C.