Home WHAT IS TRIGGER POINT THERAPY AND WHY IS IT BENEFICIAL?

WHAT IS TRIGGER POINT THERAPY AND WHY IS IT BENEFICIAL?

Thursday, 23rd June 2022

Many of our athletes here at PEAK present to us complaining about sore muscles, tight spots or knots in different areas of the body. These areas can quite often be linked to trigger points in the muscle. A ‘trigger point’ is a hyperirritable spot, a palpable nodule in the taut bands of skeletal muscles, often known as a ‘knot in the muscle’. These knots are very tender to palpate and can be aggravated by compression or contraction of the muscle. Trigger points can be a very common source of discomfort for people suffering from an injury.

Trigger points can be caused by a number of factors

Injury sustained by a fall/trauma.
Lack of exercise - commonly in sedentary populations
Bad posture - swayback posture, long hours sitting at desk/laptop, cross-legged sitting
Muscle overuse and respective micro-trauma - weightlifting
Chronic stress condition - anxiety, depression, psychological stress trauma
Vitamin deficiencies - vitamin C, D, B, folic acid, iron
Sleep disturbances
Joint problems and hypermobility
Aging

How does trigger point therapy work?

Trigger point therapy is primarily a technique used for pain relief. Through the process of manual therapy we apply pressure to the tender site to create a stimulus through the muscle. This stimulus can have great pain relieving effects. This targets the receptors in our muscles to relax and down regulate the painful stimuli being sent to our brain.

At PEAK not only do we use our hands for trigger point release therapy but also a variation called Dry Needling to help relieve your symptoms.

Trigger point therapy benefits

These include pain relief, increase in mobility and flexibility. It can allow for quicker return to functional activities, work and sports because of how it aids in the recovery of the following conditions.