Trigger Point Therapy
What is a trigger point?
A trigger point is a hyper-irritable area in the muscle or connective tissue (myofascia) resulting from muscle injury or repetitive strain. When stressed or injured, muscles often form trigger points, like contracted knots that cause pain and tightness.
Highly active dogs (agility, flyball, racing, showing etc) can be more susceptible to developing trigger points.
Trigger points form as a local contraction in a small number of muscle fibres in a larger muscle or muscle bundle. These areas can pull on tendons and ligaments associated with the muscle causing pain deep within a joint or radiation pain from these points of local tenderness to broader areas, sometimes distant from the trigger point itself (referred pain).
When trigger points are present in muscles there is often pain and weakness in the associated muscles.
To the dog, trigger points are felt as tension, pain and weakness in the muscle.
This may make your dog anxious due to the pain and all of these physiological responses that he doesn't understand.
Physical pain and discomfort affect the behaviour of dogs in many ways and sometimes it can be the root cause of behaviour problems.
How can Massage Therapy help?
Massage assists in elimination of direct and referred pain, relieving tension in the body and promoting better range of motion in the limbs and joints.
Restriction in the muscle is released, allowing proper circulation of oxygen and blood flow to tissues. This flushes out toxins to help the muscle heal.
Part of my assessment of the animals l massage includes palpation. Trigger points are quite a common issue and can usually be identified as a jump sign in the dog. As a therapist I am skilled at reading canine body language therefore I am able to identify these signs.
Canine massage therapists use only manual therapy to deactivate trigger points. Manual therapy has more specific effects on the trigger points than dry needling and carries much less risk to muscle attachments.
Regular massage can be instrumental in preventing the pain and dysfunction of active trigger points by identifying and releasing latent trigger points.
