Dr. Katz, iHATEheadaches Blog
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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
I've got what Kind of Points ?
"They're called Trigger Points, I said as I palpated the Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle of the neck and got a sharp "Ouch" response from my friend who had been suffering from neck and head pain "forever". They can be the center of a lot of intense pain whose source may be far away from the immediate location of pain that you might be experiencing.
I've always been aware of muscle trigger points how they contributed to headaches and orofascial pain. But Trigger point therapy has for the most part been the treatment modality of physical therapist. I decide that I wanted to be more expertise at locating and identifying trigger points while performing my examination for head and neck pain. So I recently enrolled in the Janet G. Travell seminar series with a focus on myofacial pain and trigger point therapy at Bethesda physiocare center in Bethesda Maryland.
Trigger points as described by David Simons, MD, " is a hyper irritable spot in muscle.... with a hypersensitive and palpable nodule in a taut band." Applying pressure to these sore nodules or bands, for instance in the neck area, can then elicit pain patterns that a person might be experiencing in the TMJ region or on the head.
Dr. Simons along with Dr. Travell diagrammed referred pain patterns from trigger points from the cervical (neck) area to the head and orofacial regions. Two major muscle groups have shown significant pain patterns of referral to the head and neck region. The SCM, one of the primary controllers of position and balance of the head and the Trapezius muscle of the neck and back.
The Trapezius muscle refers pain that can extend to the side of the head, centering inn the temple and back of the eye socket and may include the angle of the jaw and lower molar teeth.
The guidelines of The American Academy of Orofacial Pain advises dentists to include examination of the neck during an initial examination to rule out neck dysfunction.
I thought this was enough of an introduction to trigger points to give my friend. There would be other opportunities for more information, so it was time to finish the neck examination and see if we would get any more "ouch" responses.
The goal by the way was not so much to get an "ouch" response but to learn and identify a problem and make the pain go away.
I've always been aware of muscle trigger points how they contributed to headaches and orofascial pain. But Trigger point therapy has for the most part been the treatment modality of physical therapist. I decide that I wanted to be more expertise at locating and identifying trigger points while performing my examination for head and neck pain. So I recently enrolled in the Janet G. Travell seminar series with a focus on myofacial pain and trigger point therapy at Bethesda physiocare center in Bethesda Maryland.
Trigger points as described by David Simons, MD, " is a hyper irritable spot in muscle.... with a hypersensitive and palpable nodule in a taut band." Applying pressure to these sore nodules or bands, for instance in the neck area, can then elicit pain patterns that a person might be experiencing in the TMJ region or on the head.
Dr. Simons along with Dr. Travell diagrammed referred pain patterns from trigger points from the cervical (neck) area to the head and orofacial regions. Two major muscle groups have shown significant pain patterns of referral to the head and neck region. The SCM, one of the primary controllers of position and balance of the head and the Trapezius muscle of the neck and back.
The Trapezius muscle refers pain that can extend to the side of the head, centering inn the temple and back of the eye socket and may include the angle of the jaw and lower molar teeth.
The guidelines of The American Academy of Orofacial Pain advises dentists to include examination of the neck during an initial examination to rule out neck dysfunction.
I thought this was enough of an introduction to trigger points to give my friend. There would be other opportunities for more information, so it was time to finish the neck examination and see if we would get any more "ouch" responses.
The goal by the way was not so much to get an "ouch" response but to learn and identify a problem and make the pain go away.
posted by
Abraham A. Katz, DDS
at
8:15 PM
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