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Trigger points are highly irritated, painful spots found in muscles that are the result of injury, overuse, or chronic stress. Trigger points can be found by careful diagnosis. They are usually painful to the touch and contain nodules (or knots) and tight bands that can often be felt under the skin. When these trigger points irritate the nerves around them they cause “referred pain”, in other words they send their pain to some other site in the body, often far away from the actual trigger point itself. This can be very misleading to health care providers and is often the reason why so many conventional treatments for chronic pain fail. Conditions frequently associated with trigger points include neck or back pain, joint pain, pain in the limbs, sciatica, headaches, migraines, sinus irritation, heartburn, dizziness, nausea, irritable bowel, and many others). Some experts even believe that trigger points are the beginning stage of fibromyalgia.

Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic condition that results in pain and inflammation in muscles, fascia and other soft tissues of the body. Myofascial pain syndrome is the result of un-treated trigger points that have, over time, persisted or worsened. With myofascial pain or other chronic pain conditions it is important to note again, that the area where the person experiences pain or other symptoms may not be where the actual underlying “trigger” of the pain is located.

Chronic pain is almost always associated with trigger points. There are many treatment modalities that address them but trigger point injections have been shown to be one of the most effective treatments available to bring about prompt relief, especially in complicated or chronic cases. Trigger point injections are used to alleviate the symptoms of trigger points, myofascial pain syndrome and many other chronic pain issues (such as back or neck pain) that haven’t responded to other therapies. It is a very simple office procedure that involves the injection of small amounts of procaine (or other local anesthetics of the “caine” family) into the trigger point. The goal of these injections is to relax the area of muscle contraction. This often results in immediate pain relief and increases blood flow to the area so that tissue may begin to repair itself. We typically also see immediate improvement of the referred pain that was caused by the trigger point. The procedure is relatively pain free and often results in a rapid, long term relief of pain.

The most common cause of whiplash injuries is car crashes where there is a sudden deceleration and the neck is thrown forward and back, however it can occur with many different activities. The symptoms may be mild, but if left untreated may end up being severe and long lasting. Usually we think of a whiplash as affecting only the neck but this type of injury has a dramatic influence on the entire body. Patients may experience neck pain, but may also have severe headaches, blurred vision, jaw pain, pain in the shoulders and chest, weakness, mid and low back pain and many other symptoms. Patients may experience these symptoms immediately after the injury or the pain may come on gradually over days, weeks or even months. The good news is that whiplash injuries are usually treatable by removing the underlying strain patterns that are causing the symptoms.

It is based on the theory that trauma can produce “interference fields” which are long standing disturbances in the electrochemical function of tissues and nerves. Interference fields can be caused by inflammation, injuries, infection, surgeries, scars or other trauma. These disturbances can result in chronic pain or other illness that can be seemingly unrelated to the original trauma. Neural therapy can often resolve acute and chronic pain or other illness very quickly, with long lasting or permanent results.

Neural Therapy was discovered much by accident in 1925. Two physicians, Ferdinand and Walter Huneke were trying to help their sister who had suffered from severe migraines. During one of these migraines they gave her an injection of what they thought was a remedy for rheumatism. Much to their surprise the migraine immediately vanished and never returned. After witnessing this miraculous recovery the doctors realized that the medicine they used contained procaine (also known as Novocain, the numbing medicine commonly used in dental offices). With much further research it became clear that procaine and other local anesthetics of the “caine” family could also be used to correct electrochemical imbalances of tissues that were altered through various injuries, illness or trauma.

Neural Therapy is commonly used by doctors throughout Europe and South America and involves the injection of tiny amounts of procaine into very specific sites on the body, as a means of correcting these “interference fields”. Procaine is safe, relatively free of side effects and is broken down and eliminated from the body very rapidly. When used correctly neural therapy offers a very safe and effective tool for the treatment of a wide variety of conditions including chronic pain.