trigger point injection
Additional Information
If you are suffering from muscle pain, it can develop for a variety of reasons. While many types of muscle pain can go away after a couple of days rest or after occlusal splint therapy and daily exercises, some people are not so lucky.
A trigger point injection is used to help soothe muscle pain and can be used to treat tension headaches, TMJ pain and myofascial pain, among other complaints. To get more specific, trigger points are painful knots in your muscles that form when a muscle can’t relax. In fact, you may be able to feel these when you rub your muscle. To help the muscle relax, a small needle containing local anaesthetic is injected through the skin into the muscle to release the knot or taut band, thereby reducing pain. The intention of treatment is to reduce muscle and fascial pain and reduce muscle spasms, which improves range of motion and function. While the numbness is temporary and only lasts for a few hours, the therapeutic pain relief can last days to months.
Associated Published Studies
Ozkan, F., Cakir Özkan, N., & Erkorkmaz, U. (2011). Trigger point injection therapy in the management of myofascial temporomandibular pain. Agri, 23(3), 119-25.
Aksu, Ö., Doğan, Y. P., Çağlar, N. S., & Şener, B. M. (2019). Comparison of the efficacy of dry needling and trigger point injections with exercise in temporomandibular myofascial pain treatment. Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 65(3), 228.
Iwama, H., & Akama, Y. (2000). The superiority of water-diluted 0.25% to neat 1% lidocaine for trigger-point injections in myofascial pain syndrome: a prospective, randomized, double-blinded trial. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 91(2), 408-409.