Trigger Point Injections: Patient Questions Answered [Part I]

Trigger point injections are an effective and commonly practised pain intervention for those who suffer with Fibromyalgia. In fact, many patients who previously saw no relief with conservative therapies have shown great results with trigger point injections.

Many of our patients are unsure of how trigger point injections work, and how they are most effective. To help shed some light, we’re here to answer questions…

Question – Ethel from Gateshead asks:

What are trigger point injections, and how are they most effective (i.e. all over the body pain or more targeted trigger points?)

There are a number of different types of trigger point injections including dry needling (acupuncture), and wet needling (with local anaesthetic/ local anaesthetic plus steroid or botox).

Trigger point injections are thought to work by causing local relaxation of muscle fibres, leading to a reduction in tension and a reduction of afferent pain traffic back to the spinal cord. They also release endorphins in a number of patients, which gives an overall analgesic effect. They are most useful when there are specific targeted trigger points, rather than when patients have widespread all over body trigger points. The aim is to shrink down the area of trigger points to the smallest area, before using trigger point treatment.

Here at The Fibro Clinic, we know that there is no “cure-all” for fibromyalgia, however a variety of differing treatments such as medicines, injections and other mind-body therapies can prove to be significantly beneficial.