Myofascial pain: what is it and why do I not want it? 

At its core, myofascial pain is a chronic, pain-causing condition that affects the body’s soft tissues. The fascia is a layer of tissue that covers our muscles and spreads without interruption throughout our bodies. When this tissue is injured, whether acutely or by repetitive trauma, it often tightens and contracts. This can put pressure where you don’t want it: on nerves, muscles and organs. The point where the injury occurs is often the epicenter of pain, and we refer to it as the trigger point; but other, seemingly completely unrelated, areas of your body can experience pain in what is known as referred pain. Because the fascia spreads throughout our bodies without interruption, pain can be experienced far away from the source of the injury. 

Chiropractic has many techniques for dealing with myofascial pain in Houston

Trigger points can be detected because, rather than being a source of scar tissue that develops after injury, they are areas of increased sensitivity in the muscle. When pressure is applied here, pain is often felt in an unrelated area, hence the referred pain and hence the necessity for determining the true point of injury. After diagnosing your trigger points, we move on to treatment which includes:

• Myofascial release
• Active Release Technique
• Heat and ice
• Electric muscle stimulation and ultrasound

By applying manual pressure to the trigger points, we encourage the muscles to relax and the trigger point to disappear. Specific exercises relating to stretching and strengthening can be used at home to improve your symptoms from myofascial pain. 

Treat your myofascial pain and release trigger points in Houston

Because myofascial pain is undetectable through x-ray, MRI and CT scanning, it is most often determined through medical history and physical examination. We use our hands to find whether trigger points in your muscle are the true source of your pain. From here, we move forward with a plan for treatment.  If you are interested in finding out more about how we help you treat your myofascial pain in Houston, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today.