Trigger points: a more effective treatment
February 20, 2016
Trigger points are most effectively retrained by shortening and lengthening the muscle along its contractile elements with simultaneous myofascial release, known as Active Release Technique. If you're a patient in our office, this is when you are moving a body part and it feels as if we're digging our thumbs into you. This resets the neurological patterns of that muscle group, along with the receptor pool that messages the specific areas of the brain related to spatial orientation (gain/sensitivity) that dictates sensitivity or tension in the muscle group. Also, many people have trigger points due to joint fixations, or misalignments that cause muscles to tighten as they stabilize, or many times attempt to gain motion back into the joint. They can also be there due to chronic postural abnormalities or brain-based changes in plasticity that have occurred. In other words, a trigger point isn't necessarily as simple as it sounds, but with appropriate diagnosis and treatment, can be resolved very effectively.
These are very common in the upper and lower trapezius area, contributing to headaches, migraines, neck pain, shoulder pain and scapular/rib dysfunction. When all of these systems are treated appropriately, neuorplasticity within these networks is reestablished and people resume normal symptom free patterns of control. At Portland Chiropractic Neurology, located in Portland, Maine, we treat these disorders with great efficacy, restoring normalcy to a myraid of acute and chronic conditions.
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