Vancouver Chiropractic Care: Trigger Point Therapy

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

Patients are frequently amazed that we can locate, just by feeling, the painful spot. Trigger points are extremely irritable areas in muscle bands that trigger painful responses and are identified by heightened soreness in the patient and a noticeable hardness to the doctor or therapist. Trigger points are not just sensitive nodules, but they affect the surrounding muscle and tissues.

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 founded on the theory that pain in a certain part of the body can actually be caused 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 sore, sensitive spots in order to relieve their pain and dysfunction as well as pain in other parts 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 presumed to cause joint stiffness and decreased ranges of motion as we age.

By including trigger point therapy, the doctor or therapist puts pressure on these painful points to ease the muscle and tissues affected. Even as the application of 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 find that trigger point therapy in connection with your chiropractic Cox Technic treatment does wonders to move you toward pain relief.

Vancouver Disc Centers provides trigger point therapy to maximize your healing. Ask Vancouver Disc Centers for more information.