I HATE Trigger Points

[Dryvlyne]

Getting frustrated here. I've been dealing with a few stubborn trigger points for going on 2yrs now. I've been out of the gym since May trying to let my body just settle down.

Things have improved but they are still there. Massage therapy, self-massage, Yoga, hot baths, acupuncture all help but have yet to completely deactivate them.

At this point I'm half afraid to even try to hit the gym like I did for fear of making them come back with a vengeance. I didn't consistently stick with the above methods of treatment until late Aug so I'm going to try and be patient and give it until March or April to see where I'm at. It's frustrating as hell though becuase before all this crap I had been consistently hitting the gym for 20yrs.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[Melis689]

Had a bad one in my left shoulder, used to flare up randomly all the time. Painkillers never used to touch it. You tried foam rolling? I used to use a tennis ball and lie on it for 30 seconds , release then repeat a few times. Hurts like hell but helped ease it. Sports massage might help too but you'd probably need a few.

[MrNismo]

My experience with chasing trigger points is that I could temporarily get relief but never really solve them until I solvedthe root issue.

Just as an example, my worst one a few years back was in my right scapula and it would just throb all the time. A lacrosse ball would hurt but in that 'oh so good' sort of way and would definitely help lessen the pain but never went away. I ended up moving my mouse over to the left side so that my right arm wasn't always leaning forward and I also started doing a lot of pulling movements and band pullaparts throughout the day. Trigger point gone. Right shoulder not perfect still but not even remotely close to how it use to feel!

Anyway, I'm no doctor and only sharing my personal experience which could have nothing to do with your experience.

Curious though, where are your trigger points and what do you do for a living -- i.e do you sit all day, stand all day, carry stuff around or .. ?

[Dryvlyne]

Yep, I do foam rolling and have various balls as well. They really help with my hip and shoulder trigger points. It took me a good while to figure how to properly hit the one on top of my shoulder. I basically have to bend over facing the edge of a door frame and press the racquet ball into the top of my shoulder where the trap & neck muscles connect. I was told the Levator Scapulae is a notorious trigger point area

[Dryvlyne]

Curious though, where are your trigger points and what do you do for a living -- i.e do you sit all day, stand all day, carry stuff around or .. ?

I've got 3 main ones... Top of the right shoulder where the trap & neck muscles meet, between my right shoulder blade and spine, and then in my right hip.

My hip I can understand because a couple of yrs ago I took up cycling. The problem was I have a road bike but was riding it like a Tri-bike so was hunched over a lot and not stretched out enough. I even remember my hips hurting at the time I was training but at the time chalked it up to not being used to it... Boy do I regret that.

I have a desk job, but last month got a desk that I can lift up or put down so I alternate between sitting and standing which has helped. I've also tried to be much more attentive to my sitting and standing postures. It's all helped but progress has been very slow.

And I guess that's the main frustration is the time it's taking. I'm hopeful I haven't done any permanent damage and am trying to just give it time. I mean it did take a long time for my hip to flare up from the biking to where it started causing lumbar radiculopathy, which I still have some tingling in the calves from, so I imagine it could take equally as long to get back to "normal".

Doing Pilates and Yoga have helped the most. I remember not long after I turned 30 my family doc told me to start doing Yoga... I wish I had listened then. It's amazing how my body used to recover without much problem on its own. Now that I've been doing Yoga I can't believe how tight I am in some areas and wonder how much that contributed to where I am now.

[Dryvlyne]

Have you found that working out has aggravated your trigger points or helped them?

For me it seemed to aggravate them especially the one on top of my shoulder. I repeatedly tried going back to the gym but it kept flaring. I'm hoping an extended hiatus will get it back to normal but maybe this is just something I'm going to have just deal with :-/

[MrNismo]

Have you found that working out has aggravated your trigger points or helped them?

For me it seemed to aggravate them especially the one on top of my shoulder. I repeatedly tried going back to the gym but it kept flaring. I'm hoping an extended hiatus will get it back to normal but maybe this is just something I'm going to have just deal with :-/

Without a doubt, absolute %100 working out aggravated/worsened them. In my case working out was not the root cause though. Sitting all day was. My cycle over the last 6-8 years went exactly like this:

Gain weight, gain strength, gain pain. Stop lifting heavy, ease up on eating a bit so I didn't continue to gain weight while not lifting as heavy and pain would get manageable again.

Repeat that over and over and over except I consistently lost strength the whole time.

Finally, about 2 years ago I put %100 focus on movement quantity (getting up out of my chair a lot more often, increasing daily step count) and movement quality. A PT got me in the mindset of thinking about body positioning OUTSIDE of the gym which was something I'd never really considered before. How I sit, which way my feet point when I walk, how I stand, how I bend over to pick things up. It wasn't until I put that level of focus on every day life that things started to improve.

I feel better now than I have in at least 5 of the last 8 years but it takes constant focus outside of the gym. The gym is the easy part IMO. You go in, you lift hard, you go home. That's enough for some lucky people but won't cut it for others for whatever reason.

I wish I could point you to something and say 'do this' but I personally have not found such a source but rather found it was simply a long learning process that will be individual to you.

There are 2 people though that if you follow their videos and blogs you can make tremendous progress.

Eric Cressey is a well known trainer who really focuses on movement quality and drills to improve mobility and muscle activation. Here is his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ecressey


Kelly Starret is well known in the Crossfit industry but definitely not just for Crossfit. He puts a lot of videos out around trigger point therapy as well. Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/sanfranciscocrossfit

[Giant_Killer]

It sounds like you have some posture/form repetitive motion injuries, fix the movement (even just daily life, not the gym).

[blue9steel]

I was having some fairly serious knee pain for a while. I added some additional specific flexibility work and that seems to be solving the problem. Generally if you're having a lot of problems it's due to something being off and you'll need to do a bit of research to figure out why.

[Dryvlyne]

Without a doubt, absolute %100 working out aggravated/worsened them. In my case working out was not the root cause though. Sitting all day was. My cycle over the last 6-8 years went exactly like this:

Gain weight, gain strength, gain pain. Stop lifting heavy, ease up on eating a bit so I didn't continue to gain weight while not lifting as heavy and pain would get manageable again.

Repeat that over and over and over except I consistently lost strength the whole time.

Finally, about 2 years ago I put %100 focus on movement quantity (getting up out of my chair a lot more often, increasing daily step count) and movement quality. A PT got me in the mindset of thinking about body positioning OUTSIDE of the gym which was something I'd never really considered before. How I sit, which way my feet point when I walk, how I stand, how I bend over to pick things up. It wasn't until I put that level of focus on every day life that things started to improve.

I feel better now than I have in at least 5 of the last 8 years but it takes constant focus outside of the gym. The gym is the easy part IMO. You go in, you lift hard, you go home. That's enough for some lucky people but won't cut it for others for whatever reason.

I wish I could point you to something and say 'do this' but I personally have not found such a source but rather found it was simply a long learning process that will be individual to you.

There are 2 people though that if you follow their videos and blogs you can make tremendous progress.

Eric Cressey is a well known trainer who really focuses on movement quality and drills to improve mobility and muscle activation. Here is his youtube channel:


Kelly Starret is well known in the Crossfit industry but definitely not just for Crossfit. He puts a lot of videos out around trigger point therapy as well. Youtube channel here:

Man, you totally get what I'm going through as that's exactly what I'm learning.

I did my first stint of PT in August and that was the most helpful thing I've done in almost 2yrs of searching for answers. I'm definitely learning that proper body mechanics and staying flexible are very important. And you're absolutely right, it's very personalized in what works for people. Yoga, acupuncture and self-massage seem to be the most effective things for me so far.

I also agree that it's harder than hitting the gym. In the gym I only have stay focused/disciplined for a set amount of time whereas with this its like a constant grind. I find that I'm starting to catch myself though when I slouch at work or have my head posture too forward.

Thanks for those links, I'll definitely check them out. I'm always on the lookout for anything that helps.

[TouaregV8]

When conservative treatment fails, you may want to talk to your doctor about trigger point injections and/or dry needling.