Trigger Point Injections: What Are They and Why Consider Them?

23 Feb Trigger Point Injections: What Are They and Why Consider Them?

Lone Star Pain Management is pleased to be able to offer so many different treatments to patients suffering from chronic pain. Among them are trigger point injections (TPIs). A TPI is a specialized injection intended to treat trigger points in the muscles.

TPI can be a remarkably effective treatment for certain types of pain. It is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure. It does involve needles, as does any injection, so there is always the risk of infection at the treatment site. Other than that, the risks of TPI are minimal.

Relaxing the Muscles

Tight, painful muscles can form knots that simply will not go away. The muscle tissue refuses to relax, thereby causing pain at the site of the knot. Making matters worse is referred pain – pain that is felt in other parts of the body.

Helping the affected muscle relax is the whole point of TPI. If we’re looking at trigger points in the shoulders and neck for example, we want to relax the muscle so that the knot loosens and the referred pain goes away. We do this with a simple anesthetic or saline. If necessary, the injection may include a corticosteroid.

The injection solution essentially inactivates the irritated muscle. It then relaxes and the pain subsides. Best of all, TPI often gives sustained relief. You begin feeling better within minutes and the pain stays away for a prolonged amount of time.

Appropriate for Multiple Muscle Groups

As chronic pain specialists, one of things we appreciate most about TPI is that it is appropriate for so many muscle groups. It is especially effective in the neck, lower back, arms, and legs. TPI has been used to treat myofascial pain syndrome along with tension headaches and even fibromyalgia.

Of course, it is not appropriate for every type of pain. We would be hard-pressed to recommend it for cancer pain, for example. That’s why it’s so important to speak with a pain specialist before determining the most appropriate treatment for your chronic pain. Incidentally, our Weatherford, Texas pain clinic is accepting new patients at this time.

We appreciate TPI because of its potential to offer almost immediate relief by way of a minimally invasive procedure that is easily done in an outpatient setting. That’s the best of all worlds for everyone involved. If it works to bring relief to the trigger points in your shoulders and neck, we think it’s far better than long-term pain medication or something more invasive.

Treat Your Chronic Pain

In closing, we want to remind our readers that living with chronic pain isn’t necessary. In generations past, there weren’t nearly as many pain treatments as there are today. Doctors did their best with limited resources. Today, we can access a variety of treatments ranging from TPI to regenerative medicine. There is likely a viable treatment for your pain regardless of its cause.

If you have been experiencing chronic pain that doesn’t seem to have a root cause you can identify, please make an appointment to visit our Weatherford clinic. Lone Star pain doctors are experts in determining the causes of chronic pain and then treating them accordingly.

If your pain is referred pain being caused by a muscle that just won’t relax, TPI might be the best treatment option for you. Let us get together and talk about it. When you do see one of our pain doctors, please be sure to ask any questions you might have. We want you to be completely comfortable with the procedure before we proceed. Most of all, we want you to find relief from your chronic pain.