Myofascial Trigger Points, what are they?

 

In this article we want to provide some basic and superficial information on a subject matter everyone has suffered from at some point in life, "Trigger Points"

 

The human body is comprises of soft tissue known as fascia. This tissue covers all soft tissue and structures including organs, muscles, nerves and blood vessels.

This fascia, which covers your muscles is call myofascia.

When the myofascia is stressed, overused or traumatized by rigorous exercises, microscopic tears or inflammation adhere the tissues together. This leads to sensitive or even painful muscles known as "trigger points", which can limit and prevent muscles from moving freely as designed.  A collection or cluster of multiple trigger points is called myofascial pain syndrome (MPS).

 

Normal healthy muscle tissue is non-tender, soft and supple.

 

Trigger points can also limit ROM (Range of Motion) and create pain known as referred pain, which can radiate down a limb or even affect neighboring muscle groups. Trigger points cause muscles to fatigued more easily, and have difficulty returning to a normal relaxed state after exercise or activities. Another reason why stretching is so much more beneficial post exercise than prior to working out. That being said, trigger points may also be caused by over stretched or aggravated muscles adding fuel to the trigger point fire.

To add more confusion to the equation, individuals who exercise and stretch on a regular basis are far less likely to develop chronic trigger points. Those who exercise less frequently tend to overdo it and inadvertently acquire acute or even chronic trigger points among other musculoskeletal pathologies.

 

Trigger points may sometimes feel like knots or hard bands of muscles that can become very debilitating in long term chronic conditions. More often than "knot", trigger points resolve themselves with minimal effort or at times with rest or cessation of activities that caused the discomfort. In more chronic conditions, professional intervention is often needed. Some very affective forms of treatment are Acupressure, Acupuncture, Reflexology, Massage therapy, and even Physical Therapy.  

 

There is no way to really prevent getting trigger points, as everyone will get muscle knots sooner or later. The key is learning how to recognize the sources and cause, then develop techniques to reduce or minimize the panful condition. Sometimes the treatment is as simple as trigger point release techniques. Other times it's a matter of finding and correcting muscular imbalances and negative movement patterns that initially cause triggers.

 

Trigger points can complicate injuries and sometimes overshadow the original issues and/or mimic other problems, which make them even harder to treat. Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs) like shin splints are one of those tricky trigger point issues that seem to linger and create havoc on runners all over the world. 

 

There are many schools of thought on the approach of trigger release, they key is to find the right avenue that works best for your individual symptoms.

With each school of thought comes with a barrage of tools and implements. Foam rollers have gained extreme popularity the last 10 years as very serious runner owns on. There are Thera-canes, firm rollers, which is one of my personal favorites. I also love and employ a good old fashion tennis ball, the firmer the better. I use it for plantar issues, pectoralis tightness and even for IT and quad tightness.

 

Like I said there is no shortage of tools and testimonials on what works best. Find whatever it is you like and what works for you. If the pain is a little more than you can handle, seek out professional treatment as trigger points are very tricky in diagnosis and in treatment and sometimes it takes a train hand in therapeutic principles to help resolve your soft tissue ailments.