While pain can occur anywhere in the body, there are more than two dozen areas in your body that can become especially tender to the touch. If you’re feeling shoulder pain when compression is applied to specific areas, you could be feeling a trigger point.
Shoulder pain is incredibly common, and a study showed that for every 1,000 people, up to 62 of them would experience shoulder pain in any given year. If you’re experiencing pain in your shoulder, it can often stem from a sensitive trigger point in your muscles.
Read on to learn about trigger points, how they can cause shoulder pain, and physical therapy treatment options that can alleviate the ache.
What is a trigger point?
A trigger point, often referred to as a “nodule,” is a hyperirritable spot that forms in the bands of your skeletal muscles. A muscle contraction or direct compression to the trigger point can cause referred pain and tenderness, which means the sensations are perceived as coming from a place other than the source. Some people call a trigger a “knot.” But while trigger points have referred pain, knots usually have localized pain.
Trigger points are quite common and are often formed by muscle injury, poor posture or overuse. Trigger points develop in the myofascial, which is the loose tissue, or fascia, that surrounds your muscle tissue. If your trigger pains persist or worsen, you could be diagnosed with myofascial pain syndrome.
There are 14 major trigger points that can be formed throughout the body, but the most common ones are found in the neck, shoulders, back, and hips.
There are actually two main types of trigger points: latent and active. Latent trigger points only hurt when pressure is applied. On the other hand, active trigger points cause referred pain to other areas of the body without stimulation, but can cause an ache during specific movements like lifting a heavy object or raising your arms over your head.
Trigger points that cause shoulder pain
You can develop a trigger point that causes shoulder pain in a variety of ways, such as repetitive motions during a sport or sitting for a long period of time with rounded shoulders.
There are three common shoulder areas where a trigger point can develop:
- Rotator cuff.
- Inside the scapula (shoulder blade).
- Back of the armpit.
Shoulder trigger points can cause referred pain in your spine, arms and hands. If your trigger point is causing shoulder pain, it can also be coupled with stiffness that causes a reduced range of motion.
Treating shoulder pain trigger points with physical therapy
Trigger points never really go away on their own; they can just become dormant until they are aggravated with pressure or injury, especially latent trigger points. It’s important to treat shoulder pain when the trigger points flare up to reduce the ache as quickly as possible.
The best way to treat shoulder pain from trigger points is through myofascial release. It’s a type of manual therapy that allows the physical therapist to use their hands and target myofascial trigger points. Due to the referred pain, the physical therapist may use the technique beyond the shoulders to ensure they are treating all of the potential trigger points causing your shoulder point.
Myofascial release can improve your mobility and pain symptoms. It involves the physical therapist using their hands to feel for tightened areas and applying pressure to the trigger point to release the tension. The pressure can help break up scar tissue to reduce the pain stemming from the trigger point.
Dry needling can also help alleviate your trigger points. It involves your physical therapist pushing small thin needles directly into the point. The goal is to make the muscle contract around the needle and release the tension.
Alliance PTP can help connect you with PT for shoulder pain connected to trigger points
At Alliance Physical Therapy Partners, we’re proudly bringing together physical therapy practices across the country to help people get the high-quality PT they need.
Want to see a physical therapist in person? We can put you in touch with an Alliance PTP partner that’s close to you and that can help you address shoulder pain connected to trigger points.
Not keen on in-person PT sessions or not close to an Alliance PTP partner? No worries. We also offer effective and affordable virtual physical therapy through our Agile Virtual Physical Therapy platform.
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