If you feel pain in the knots or bumps in the muscle under your skin, trigger point injections might be the remedy for you. Nevertheless, before you go through the procedure, you must understand trigger point injections side effects.
What Is A Trigger Pont?
A trigger point is a tender, hyperirritable or painful point in your muscles.
It feels like a tight band when touched and causes pain when you apply pressure.
The muscle can be irritated due to stress, spinal problems or over-flexing.
The pain will slowly spread to the surrounding muscles and cause posture problems.
Additionally, trigger points can occur due to tissue injury, spinal issues and degenerative disorders.
Negative Trigger Point Injections Side Effects
1. It Can Cause an Increase In Heart Rate
Also known as Tachycardia, it is a condition in which your heart beats at one hundred beats per minute it more while you are at rest.
Though this is a life-threatening condition and could require medicine or surgery it is one of the rare trigger point injections side effects that can occur.
2. It May Cause Fever And Headache
They are one of the most common trigger point injections side effects.
Usually, it starts as a minor pain at your temple and slowly speeds to the rest of your head. This unrest in your head lowers your ability to properly function.
Hence it can also cause a steady rise in your body temperature.
A study published by the national institute of neurological disorders and strokes stated that headaches are one of the most common side effects of the medicine.
3. It May Cause Sleep Disorders
Due to the numbing effects of the injection, you may find it hard to find a comfortable position in your sleep. Hence causing you to sleep for fewer hours and more uncomfortably.
4. It Can Cause Skin Infection
If the area of injection is not clean, microorganisms can enter your skin through the puncture and cause it to be infected.
Infection can also occur as one of the trigger point injections side effects if a non-sterile syringe is used that will introduce foreign substances into your body.
After the injection, the doctor should provide you with a bandaid to cover and stop the bleeding to prevent further exposure.
5. It May Cause Extensive Muscle And Nerve Damage
To administer the medication to the trigger point, the needle has to get through some muscle fibres and nerves.
Consequently, they get damaged in the process. If not done carefully, it could lead to even more damage due to the procedure having to be repeated.
6. It Can Cause Difficulty In Urinating
Due to the injection’s slightly anaesthetic properties, if you are being treated around the waist, the temporary numbness can cause difficulty in urination.
But it will pass quickly as the medication wears off.
7. It May Cause Nausea And Vomiting
It is also a common trigger point injection side effect. You may experience it a few hours after the procedure. It can be triggered by your body reacting to the medication.
8. It Can Cause Complications In Muscle Functions
Trigger point injections contain botulinum toxin A. It is a neurotoxin produced by bacteria.
Also known as botox, it helps unravel your muscle and tighten your skin in areas you may have wrinkles.
Nevertheless, the toxin can interfere with nerve signalling pathways and prevent your muscles from contracting on command.
Positive Trigger point Injections Side Effects
9. It May Reduce Inflammation
Since trigger point injections are also corticosteroids, they help to reduce inflammation in the connective tissues and the muscles surrounding a nerve.
10. It Can Reduce pain
In studies carried out in 2021, it was found that small amounts of lidocaine injections decreased pain in the targeted muscle area for between three to four weeks after treatment.
The target muscle areas include the rhomboid. They are the muscles of your upper back that connect your shoulder blades to your ribs and spine. They are necessary for maintaining an upright posture.
Secondly, Levator scapulae muscles. These are at the back of your neck.
Finally, Trapezius muscles. They span your upper back, shoulders and neck.
How Do You Prevent Trigger Points From Reoccurring?
1. Changing Diet
First, dehydration contributes to knots forming in your muscle. It can become worse if you combine it with other bad daily habits.
Such as bad posture, sitting for too long and not exercising.
The space in between your muscle fibres is vital. Dehydration limits and reduces this space. Consequently, your muscles clamp up.
If muscle knots are common, you should drink two litres of water.
Additionally, avoid coffee and alcohol due to their effects on your water content.
2. Increasing Exercise
Your muscles by design, are to undergo challenges daily.
Find any form that forces your muscles to work through tension. Focus more on the areas where knots form.
3. Stretching And Taking Posture Breaks
Most of us nowadays spend most of our time in front of screens sitting down.
Your muscles and joints can relax if you stand up and stretch after every two hours.
It can also keep your body feeling nimble and improve your posture.
4. Getting A Regular Massage
Conversely, most people see a massage as a treat, as helpful as it is.
Undoubtedly, they feel good and reduce pain. However, it is its mechanisms of it that are most helpful.
Professional massage offers mechanical responses in your body. First, it increases blood circulation because the pressure makes your muscles relax.
As a result, your muscles get a better supply of oxygen.
Secondly, massages reduce the compression of your nerves. It helps reduce pain because if your nerves are always under compression, your muscles may not function as expected and can knot up.
When they are free to function as they should, message to your brain are transmitted effectively, and your muscle function improves.
Conclusion
After analysing trigger point injections side effects, we can presume that the procedure is safe to help with chronic pain.
The injection can provide immediate pain relief, whereas some people have no response to it.
It uses anaesthetics and steroids to provide relief. If you combine it with the habit changes mentioned above, you are on your way to long-term pain relief.
Nevertheless, ensure you consult a doctor before going to get an injection. This is because some trigger point injections side effects may be more adverse to you.
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