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rigger Point Injections Denver
rigger Point Injections DenverIf you suffer from pain in your neck, shoulders, or lower back, trigger point injections can offer serious relief. Trigger point injections are a minimally invasive procedure that can relieve pain and be a good alternative to surgery for certain people.
At MD Pain, we know how tough it is to live your life if you’re constantly dealing with aches and pains. To learn more about our trigger point injections in Denver, reach out to speak with our team today.
Trigger Points and What Causes Them
Trigger points are sensitive areas of muscle that can form after overuse or injury. For instance, you might develop trigger point sensitivity if you work a job that requires repetitive motions, such as typing or lifting heavy objects. You can recognize trigger points by feeling for small knots or bumps in your muscles.
Overuse injuries can cause pain in seemingly unrelated areas of the body, which is called referred pain. Doctors can treat this chronic pain with trigger point injections.
What Are Trigger Point Injections?
During trigger point injections, a doctor will inject a corticosteroid or a combination of a steroid and local anesthetic (such as lidocaine) into taut muscle bands. Some doctors also offer botulinum toxin (Botox) injections, which prevent muscle contractions, or “dry needling” injections that don’t contain any medication.
Doctors can use trigger point injections to break up scar tissue at the injection site and relax the muscles in the:
- Jaw
- Hips
- Lower back
- Sides of your neck
- Front of your neck
- Sides of your head
Trigger point injections help your muscles relax and ease pain. You’ll go to physical therapy after having a trigger point injection to help rebuild muscle strength.
What Conditions Can Trigger Point Injections Treat?
Your doctor may recommend trigger point injections to treat:
- Fibromyalgia, which causes pain, stiffness, and numbness in the hands and feet
- Headaches
- Overuse injuries
- Myofascial pain syndrome, a condition that causes referred pain in seemingly unrelated areas of the body
- Lower back pain
- Thoracic back pain (pain in the middle or upper back)
Are Trigger Point Injections Right for You?
Trigger point injections in Denver might be helpful for you if you’re unable to improve your pain with other treatments, such as medication, massage, or heat therapy. Doctors often recommend these injections if you’re in too much pain to perform physical therapy. Trigger point injections allow your muscles to relax so that physical therapy is much less painful.
Your doctor will want to rule out other causes of pain before suggesting trigger point injections, such as:
- Pinched nerves (radiculopathy)
- Structural causes of pain
- Muscle strain
- Spinal problems that can cause back pain, such as spinal stenosis, herniated discs, or degenerative arthritis
Learn More About Trigger Point Injections at MD Pain
Are you a good candidate for trigger point injections? At MD Pain, we’re experts in treating painful conditions such as arthritis and fibromyalgia. We’ll talk to you about your treatment options, and determine whether trigger point injections can help address your pain.
To schedule an appointment for trigger point injections in Denver, call us at (303) 750-8100. We'll start with an examination and craft a custom treatment plan for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Trigger points are localized sensitive areas of the skeletal muscles that contain taut muscle bands. They are sensitive to palpation (pressing) and can be referred pain.
The exact cause of trigger points is not unknown. It is believed that referred pain or stress can cause tension and contraction of muscles. This can lead to a relative lack of blood flow to these muscles and ischemia (lack of oxygen). This in turn can lead to lactic acid build up and a burning aching sensation. Lactic acid further enhances the pain cycle leading back to tension and muscle contraction restarting the pain cycle.
The numbing medicine injected usually only provides a few hours of pain relief. During this pain relief window, we send patients to physical therapy to work on stretching and range of motion exercises of these muscles that previously would have been poorly tolerated because of the pain. Trigger point injections are basically a way to assist in the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome through physical therapy.
Your physician will press on the painful areas of your body and mark the locations with a pen. Your skin will be cleaned off with alcohol and a tiny needle is used to locate these painful areas. You will feel a sharp pain and may “jump” when the needle hits the painful location. The local anesthetic and corticosteroid is then injected and a bandage is placed.
The procedure is very safe with complications being very rare. Anytime a needle breaks the skin, there is a chance of bleeding or infection.
Notify your physician if you have any known allergies to numbing medicine or corticosteroids.