Trigger points are described as hypersensitive spots in skeletal muscle that are associated with palpable nodules (knots) in taut bands (ropes) of muscle fibers.
Almost everyone has some (if not many) trigger points, because there are so many events that cause trigger points to be created and to come back. Poor posture, injuries and repetitive motion/movement are among the most common ways to create, activate and perpetuate these trigger point.
Compression of a trigger point will elicit mild to piercing local tenderness, usually recreate the referred pain, and often elicit a local twitch response. The local twitch response can be often be seen and felt as a small twitch in the muscle.
Active trigger points are a very common cause of pain, which can be mild to annoying, quite severe and even debilitating.
The myofascial (muscular) trigger points are often the reason behind the “unexplained pain” that frustrates the sufferer. This pain can:
- Be mild to severe
- Change by the hour or the day/be recurrent
- Seem to change location
- Increase if offending muscles are overused
- Become chronic
Trigger points have identified, reliable, repeatable referred pain patterns. This allows trained practitioners to associate pain in one location with trigger points elsewhere, the source of which is often discovered to be distant from the trigger point itself.