Trigger Point Injections: How do Anesthesiologists Help in Pain Management

Anesthesiologists are physicians who specialize in anesthesia and pain medicine. They use their knowledge of the human body and how it responds to pain to help design customized pain management plans for their patients. One type of treatment that anesthesiologists such as Dr Brian Blick often provide is trigger point injections.

How the procedure works:
Trigger point injections involve injecting a small amount of local anesthetic into a muscle to relieve pain. The injection site is located by feeling for a muscle knot or “trigger point.”
Once the local anesthetic has been injected, the muscle relaxes and the pain is relieved. Trigger point injections are just one of the many ways that anesthesiologists help their patients manage pain.
Other techniques used by anesthesiologists include nerve blocks, epidural injections, and spinal cord stimulation.
By working together with other members of the healthcare team, anesthesiologists can provide comprehensive pain relief for their patients.

The roles played by Anesthesiologists for the completion of a successful process:
The injections are usually given with a local anesthetic and may also contain a steroid medicine. TPIs are generally performed by anesthesiologists, pain management specialists, or other physicians trained to give injections.
The most important part of the TPI process is finding the exact location of the trigger point.
Once the trigger point is located, the doctor will clean the skin over the injection site and numbing medicine may be injected to help lessen any discomfort during the procedure.
The doctor will then inject a small amount of local anesthetic and/or steroid medicine into the muscle.
Some doctors use electricity (called electromyography or EMG) to guide them in placing the needle in the correct spot.

Endnote:
After the injection, you will be asked to rest for about 15 minutes so that the medicine can work. There may be some soreness at the injection site for a day or two, but this can usually be treated with ice and over-the-counter pain relievers. In some cases, more than one injection may be needed to completely treat a trigger point.