TRIGGER POINT THERAPY

Do you have a pet recovering from a muscular injury? Dr Mark Hocking is a qualified veterinary acupuncturist and utilises trigger point therapy and laser therapy as part of his clinical treatments. Mark is involved in teaching trigger point therapy to veterinary acupuncture students and is undertaking post graduate education in canine sports medicine and rehabilitation.

WHAT IS A TRIGGER POINT?

You probably know what a Trigger Point is if you have had a massage – they are localised, hyperirritable areas, found within muscles, that are often exquisitely painful on gentle compression.

One of the most common trigger points in people is in the trapezius muscle (where a singlet/dress strap would sit on the shoulder). If you press gently on this area and you find a firm area that is tender, you have just found a trigger point.

As well as being a very common cause of stiffness and musculoskeletal pain in humans, they are also commonly found in other animal species, including dogs and cats and often contribute to (or cause) lameness and stiffness. The pain from trigger points varies from being mild and intermittent to being severe enough to cause non-weight bearing lameness.

HOW DO TRIGGER POINTS DEVELOP?

Trigger points are thought to develop in skeletal muscle due to acute overload, overwork, fatigue, direct trauma, chilling, as well as secondarily to other trigger points, internal organ disease and arthritis.

In dogs and cats, trigger points will often develop after musculoskeletal injury or surgery and in animals with arthritis. Once an animal has recovered from a painful condition or injury, there may be ongoing stiffness or lameness due to unresolved trigger points in the muscles.

HOW CAN TRIGGER POINTS BE DIAGNOSED?

Trigger points can be diagnosed by carefully observing the animal’s gait (shortening of a muscle will lead to a change in posture or movement), gently feeling the muscles for localised areas of firmness or tenderness (often leading to a yelp/jump from the dog, though some animals are very stoic) and testing the range of motion of joints.

Joints will not move a normal amount in certain directions if the muscles around the joint have trigger points.

X-rays and ultrasound are not of use to diagnose trigger points. There is often little or no improvement with pain-killing or muscle-relaxing medication.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO TREAT TRIGGER POINTS?

Many physical therapies are of use in treating trigger points. Treatment normally requires stimulation of the affected area, which causes some relaxation of the trigger point in the muscle, to allow the muscle to be gently stretched to its full length.

At Gladesville Veterinary Hospital the stimulation techniques used include pressure/release massage, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and certain acupuncture methods.

Patient receiving TENS treatment

Gentle warming, massage and stretching techniques are usually shown to the owner to reduce the recurrence of trigger points. Treatment sessions normally last approximately 30 minutes.

There is often a good to dramatic improvement in an animal’s lameness after up to four treatments. Maintenance treatments may or may not be necessary depending on the animal’s condition.

If you are interested in booking your pet in for trigger point therapy, call us on 9817 5758 to book a consultation with Dr Mark.