Treatments - Trigger Point Injections / Joint Injections
The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician ... Adding Quality to Live
|
Treatments - Trigger Point Injections / Joint Injections |
|
|
The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician ... Adding Quality to Live |
|
|||||||
|
Trigger point injection (TPI) is a
procedure used to treat painful areas of muscle that contain trigger points,
or knots of muscle that form when muscles do not relax. Many times, such
knots can be felt under the skin. Trigger points may irritate the nerves
around them and cause referred pain, or pain that is felt in another part of
the body.
In the TPI procedure, a small needle is inserted into the patients trigger point. The injection contains a local anesthetic that sometimes includes a corticosteroid. With the injection, the trigger point is made inactive and the pain is alleviated. Usually, a brief course of treatment will result in sustained relief. Injections are given in a doctor's office and usually take just a few minutes. Several sites may be injected in one visit. If a patient has an allergy to a certain medication, a dry-needle technique (involving no medications) can be used.
|
 |
|||
|
|||