Have you ever ran or cycled and you felt like your own neck was suffocating you with pain and achiness? Have you ever found your computer job to be more irritating to your neck and shoulders than lifting a car over your head? You are not alone. One very common cause of these discomforts is the Myofascial Trigger Point (MTrP).

What is a Trigger Point (TrP)?
A small portion of a muscle fiber becomes locally shortened or “knotted up”.

Causes of Trigger Points:
TrP’s become activated by muscle overload, fatigue and direct impact. Whether acute, sustained or repetitive, these forces to the muscle can and will cause an activated TrP at some point.

Why are they important?
TrP’s cause an increase in muscle tension, muscle shortening, limits range of motion and cause significant motor dysfunction and pain.

Sensory (feeling) Symptoms:
TrP’s produce unspecific pain and achiness and are rarely sharp. Often pain is referred away from the actual trigger point and can cause a feeling of pins and needles or numbness. For exampler, a TrP in the rotator cuff can cause pain into the forearm or a TrP in the neck can cause pain in the forehead.

Motor (motion) Symptoms:
Muscle weakness, incoordination, lack of balance and decreased endurance of the involved muscle.

If you are an office worker, triathlete, endurance runner/cyclist, overhead athlete, pain syndromes are inevitable. However, they are correctable with proper evaluation and treatment.

Visit our slide show under the "Graston Technique" tab to view how these MTrP's are effectively treated.

For detailed information on trigger points, read the article at http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/313007-overview