Soft Tissue Pain
Soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, and tendons) may display abnormal tension from poor posture, traumatic injury, strain or sprain from activity. This tension may produce pain and tenderness and cause movement dysfunctions. Soft tissue pain can manifest in many ways, including trigger points.
We often refer to a trigger point as a taut band of muscle that can be painful upon compression and can give rise to referred pain and motor dysfunction, sometimes referred to as a knot or “kink.”Soft tissue pain can be a chronic condition that affects the fascia (connective tissue that covers the muscles).
What is a Trigger Point?
Trigger Points are extremely irritable knots in taut bands of muscle and connective tissue that can produce tenderness, a “twitch response” in part of the soft tissue, and a neurological phenomenon of referred pain to different locations of the body when external pressure is placed upon them, hence the term “Trigger Point”.
What Causes Soft Tissue Pain?
Myofascial pain may develop from a muscle injury or from excessive strain on a particular muscle or muscle group, ligament or tendon. Other causes include:
- Poor Posture
- Injury to muscle fibers
- Repetitive motions
- Lack of activity (such as having a broken arm in a sling)
Treatments for Soft Tissue Pain?
- Ice
- Heat
- Physical Therapy
- Massage Therapy
- Trigger Point Injections
