Are You a Candidate for Trigger Point Injections?

If you suffer from any form of chronic pain, it’s important to understand all the treatment options available to you. Although not every procedure will be the right choice to help to alleviate your pain, it’s definitely worth discussing the alternatives with your health care provider and pain management specialist to determine which procedures might be effective in alleviating or managing your chronic pain.

One alternative treatment that is becoming increasing popular is the trigger point injection, or TPI. This procedure is commonly used to treat painful knots around muscles that develop whenever muscles fail to relax. These knots, or trigger points, can affect surrounding nerves which in turn can result in pain in other areas of the body or “referred pain.”

The process involves a pain management specialist injecting a tiny needle containing a local anesthetic into a patient’s trigger point. The procedure takes very little time – usually just a few minutes – and the results can be dramatic. Often, the pain is immediately relieved, and the results can be long-term with follow-up treatment. At Interventional Pain Associates, we treat many patients using this procedure which you can read more about on our website.

When TPI is Most Effective

Trigger point injections are most effective in alleviating the following:
• Chronic pain in the neck, arms, legs and lower back
• Chronic pain due to fibromyalgia
• Chronic pain due to tension headaches

TPI might also be effective in combating other chronic pain conditions. For more information, and to determine if trigger point injections may help to alleviate your pain, talk to your doctor or pain management specialist.

Resource: AAFP