Trigger Point Injections

What are Trigger Point Injections?

Trigger points, more commonly known as muscle knots, are areas of a muscle where the fibers have become tangled up, which cuts off the blood supply to that part of the muscle and it becomes a painful spot. Sometimes they form due to scarring from surgery, however most often they are due to ergonomics and arthritis. While they can theoretically occur in any muscle, they usually form in specific muscles based on anatomical location of neighbouring structures (for example, posterior neck muscles, upper back muscles around the shoulder blades, low back muscles). 

During a Trigger Point Injection (TPI), Dr Sader palpates and marks the trigger points using a surgical marker, then using ultrasound guidance, goes in with a tiny 27-gauge needle to cause micro-trauma in that part of the muscle, which will ultimately dissipate the built up electrical charges and promote blood flow and healing to that part of the muscle. You can think of it as ‘breaking the knot’. During this procedure, a local anesthetic like lidocaine is injected, to help you tolerate the procedure, but the needle is doing all the work! Steroid is used in select cases if indicated, but most of the time, there is no steroid in the injectate for this procedure. 

Overall a very safe procedure, especially when performed under ultrasound guidance which helps us visualize and avoid the neighbouring structures. However, like all procedures involving a needle, there is always the risk of bleeding, infection, tissue damage (nerves, spinal cord, lungs) but such risks are very small.

@doctor.painkiller The TRUTH About Muscle Knots The full / long video is on my YouTube channel. #triggerpoint #muscleknots #backpain #painmanagement ♬ original sound – Dr Painkiller