Montreal Chiropractic Care: Trigger Point Therapy

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

Patients are frequently amazed that we can locate, just by feeling, the painful area. Trigger points are extremely irritable areas in muscle bands that trigger painful responses and are characterized by heightened pain in the patient and an apparent hardness to the doctor or therapist. Trigger points are not just tender nodules, but they affect the muscle and tissues in the surrounding area.

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

Trigger points are spots of tenderness in a muscle. Trigger point therapy involves applied pressure to these painful, tender spots in order to relieve their pain and dysfunction as well as pain in other areas of the body. Sometimes massage and trigger point therapy are used together. Theoretically, active trigger points cause muscle pain which transfers 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 bring about joint stiffness and reduced ranges of motion as we get older.

By including trigger point therapy, the doctor or therapist presses on these painful points to ease the muscle and tissues affected. Even as the applied pressure on a trigger point may cause your pain to become more noticeable, it has the odd effect of feeling good at the same time. You will discover that trigger point therapy in combination with your chiropractic Cox Technic treatment does wonders to move you toward pain relief.

Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic provides trigger point therapy to enhance your healing. Ask Dr. Hoang's Chiropractic Clinic for more information.