San Jose Chiropractic Care: Trigger Point Therapy

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

Patients are often astonished that we can find, just by feeling, the painful spot. Trigger points are extremely sensitive spots in muscle bands that provoke painful responses and are characterized by increased pain in the patient and an apparent hardness to the doctor or therapist. Trigger points are not just tender nodules, but they affect the surrounding muscle and tissues.

A form of soft tissue therapy, trigger point therapy, first formulated by Dr. Janet Travell who treated President John F. Kennedy for his back pain, is based on the theory that pain in a certain part of the body can actually be brought about by an injury or dysfunction somewhere else. chiropractic treatment of the spinal nerve injuries and dysfunctions is complementary.

Trigger points are areas of tenderness in a muscle. Trigger point therapy involves the application of pressure to these sore, tender areas 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 applied together. Theoretically, active trigger points cause muscle pain which passes pain and tenderness to other parts of the body when pressed. Latent trigger points are those that don't have pain unless pressed, but they are presumed to bring about joint stiffness and reduced ranges of motion as we get older.

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 applied pressure on a trigger point might cause your soreness to become more noticeable, it has the odd effect of feeling good at the same time. You will discover that trigger point therapy in connection with your chiropractic Cox Technic treatment goes far to move you toward pain relief.

Chiropractic Solutions provides trigger point therapy to maximize your healing. Ask Chiropractic Solutions for more information.