Trigger Point Injections

What are Trigger Points?

A trigger point is an adhesion in the soft tissue of our body.  It can cause tension and pulling in our body’s structure and can pull our bodies out of alignment.  The circulation to a trigger point is decreased, which is one of the reasons it cannot heal itself. The lack of circulation creates toxins and increased the nerve sensitivity to a small ache or to an extremely sharp pain.

Common Symptoms:

• A deep muscle ache
• Back shoulder pain or pain in between the shoulder blades
• Headaches that seem to start at the neck and travel to the head.
• Joints have a limited range of motion
• Lower back pain that spreads to the glutes
• Severe continuous pain

How Do Trigger Point Injections Help?

A mixture of medications that reduce inflammation are delivered through trigger point injections. The injection relaxes the muscle, promoting it to heal and improving the blood flow. If you suffer from more than one trigger point you can have different muscles injected in the same treatment session.

What are the Risks?

Trigger point injections are very safe. A local anesthetic will be applied to the skin to numb any pain that the injection may cause. The only side affects you may face is some tenderness at the injection site as the local anesthetic wears off.

 Joint Injections

What is Joint Pain?

Joints are areas in your body that allow movement and flexibility where your bones connect. When your joint suffers from disease or injury the damages may interfere with mobility and can cause inflammation and pain. Joints in your hips, knees, shoulders, hands, and wrists are the most common places that you will experience pain in.

Arthritis is one of the biggest causes of joint pain. Arthritis is a degenerative disease that occurs when the cartilage lining the surface of a joint shrinks and wears down causing stress on your bones, inflammation, and joint enlargement. Joint pain can also be caused by injury, overuse and even gout.

How Do Joint Injections Help?

Typical joint injections contain corticosteroid and a local anesthetic. The local anesthetic provides early pain relief, while the corticosteroid suppresses inflammation and decreases the swelling for a long-term solution for pain relief. Dr. Stewart Curtis, DO and K’lynda Snarr, PA-C perform this service in our office. 

Joint injections are also used as a diagnostic tool. The local anesthetic in the injection has a numbing effect in the joint. Depending on the immediate pain relief experienced your chiropractor can confirm or rule out the joint as the source of pain.

Joint injections do not change the underlying condition, all they can do is bring pain relief and reduce inflammation, allowing time for exercise and physical therapy to improve joint mobility and strengthen muscles to decrease ongoing issues.

What are the Risks?

If done right joint injections are relatively safe. After you receive the injection you may experience temporary pain relief from the local anesthetic. However, steroids need several days to deliver noticeable benefits, so there is a small window of time that the pain can return or worsen. If the pain does return it usually only lasts for a day or two.