5 Benefits of Trigger Point Injections

Interventional Pain Consultants Blog 5 Benefits of Trigger Point Injections

A thin layer of tissue known as fascia holds your muscles in place. When bands of your muscles and accompanying tissues stay taut and contracted, they can feel like little marbles underneath your skin. These are trigger points, also commonly referred to as muscle knots. 

Trigger points can feel very tender to the touch and cause pain at the trigger point site (localized pain) and in other places in the body (referred pain). These tight bands of muscle and tissue can also lead to a limited range of motion, headaches, and joint pain. 

You can develop a trigger point in any muscle when you injure it or put too much strain on it. Common trigger point causes include repeatedly tensing your muscles, sleeping in awkward positions, injuring a muscle, and continually putting your body in unnatural positions. 

Whether you’ve only had a trigger point once or you get it often, trigger point injections are a go-to treatment for much-needed pain relief. 

At Interventional Pain Consultants in Parsippany, New Jersey, pain management physicians Kevin Elaahi, MD, and Benjamin Kim, MD, lead our team in offering trigger point injections as part of our pain management treatment services. 

Here’s how trigger point injections work and what benefits you can expect from them. 

What are trigger point injections?

A trigger point injection is a medication we place directly into your trigger points. The injection renders the trigger point inactive and alleviates the pain. 

Trigger point injections can contain corticosteroids or anesthetics to provide pain relief, but sometimes, simply inserting a needle with no medication can encourage the trigger point to relax, a technique referred to as dry needling.

At Interventional Pain Consultants, we use trigger point injections that contain steroids and a numbing anesthetic. Trigger point injections work best with physical therapy to continue working out and relaxing the affected muscle group(s). 

It’s important to understand that not everyone responds to trigger point injections the same way. While some people get immediate pain relief, others may not notice a difference for several days or weeks. You also may need repeat injections to get optimal results, especially if you suffer from chronic trigger point pain, known as myofascial pain syndrome. 

What are the benefits of trigger point injections?

Trigger point injections are used so often for pain management because they’re so effective and they have so many positive things going for them, including:

  1. They’re minimally invasive
  2. They carry little risk of side effects
  3. They don’t require downtime
  4. They’re versatile
  5. They can be combined with other treatments

Whether you deal with tension headaches, muscle injury, myofascial pain syndrome, or general muscle pain, trigger point injections are an excellent option for healing and pain relief. 

To see if trigger point injections can help with your muscle pain, schedule a consultation by calling your nearest office location or using our online booking feature today.