13/06/2026
Here is post no. 6 to the what is the techniques series.
What is a trigger point?
Put simply, a trigger point is a “knot” in your muscle.
That niggly little pain you have in your shoulder, or the even the cause of that pounding headache. To get a little more technical they are areas of tight muscle tissue (commonly referred to as myofascial trigger points) that are tender to touch, can affect your range of movement, and can cause characteristic referred pain like headaches.
There are two kinds of trigger points – active and latent.
Active Trigger Points
Active trigger points can cause pain both locally or sometimes even in other seemingly unrelated areas – this is the referred pain mentioned above.
Latent Trigger Points
In comparison, latent points won’t be painful all the time but when pressure or strain is applied they’ll hurt and even change muscle activation patterns.So how does trigger point therapy help?
Step 1: Identifying trigger points
Trigger point therapy is a commonly used technique in physiotherapy practice to alleviate pains cause by knotted muscles.
The trigger point is identified by careful palpation of the muscle from its origin to its insertion. We’ll be feeling for tight bands or nodules and may apply pressure to the tender points to see if these areas elicit pain.
The best way to confirm a trigger point is with a local twitch response. “A what?” I hear you say! A local twitch response is basically, a very fast contraction of the muscle tissue. If this twitch also reproduces pain, then bingo, we’ve found the likely source of your symptoms.
Step 2: Relieving trigger point pain
Once trigger points have been identified and confirmed it’s time to work on relieving the pain. There are several methods to do this. Your physio can choose from a whole number of ways depending on the area being treated.
learning knowing massage myotherapy sports physicaltherapy kinesiology biomechanics humanmechanics humanbody rehabilitation soremuscles techniques bayside cheltenham mentone hampton sandringham brighton highett parkdale moorabbin mordialloc
