I have a condition that causes chronic pain that I just went to a specialist for. The pain is caused by something that I can't directly treat, so everything is focused on mitigating the pain. The specialist recommended trigger point injections to me, which I don't know much about.
From what I've seen from a cursory search, the concept of trigger points is closely related to acupuncture and dry needling pseudoscience. However this treatment would be done to inject lidocaine and other medications to reduce muscle pain, I guess. What I'm unsure of is if the entire concept is known to be homeopathic bullshit, or if there's actually something to it.
I'm really unsure because the facility that does this treatment seems like an actual medical facility revolved around musculoskeletal pain conditions, but at the same time, my health insurance company also seems to fully embrace stuff like chiropractic and acupuncture as legitimate treatments that they recommend to patients.
I'd really appreciate some perspectives on this since it's so discouraging trying to find legitimate pain relief treatments that won't do more harm than good.
That was my initial thought. The specialist mentioned dry needling in the same breath as something "they used to do" instead, though, so I got a weird vibe about it. I guess the main idea is distracting the brain from the major source of pain, so 🤷
I think it’s semi-real? Works, but not always.
Also acupuncture is slightly better (or worse) than homeopathy, because it does do something real, needles produce all sorts of weird reactions with local inflammations
Good point. I guess it's concerning because it's invasive yet doesn't have much proof backing up its purported benefits
I have heard trigger point massage therapy techniques brought up at a couple of the physical therapy places (PT has become a more strictly licensed/accredited profession over the past decade or two, similar to pharmacy, and is focused preventative medicine and treating underlying causes of symptoms) that I used to go to, but usually kind of "on the sidelines." I can't really tell you how legit it is as a whole, only that some PTs think of at least some portion of the techniques as a tool in their tool belt.
To expand on this idea, consider chiropracty. There are tons of chiropractor cranks and lots of bullshit surrounding the occupation, however, even doctors of physical therapy may use some of the manual joint mobilization techniques from time to time if the application is appropriate. There is an understanding there that a mobilization may grant temporary relief, but that the mobilization was treating a symptom and not the underlying cause of the issue (or at least it won't solve whatever musculoskeletal problem/deficiency led to the issue), so the PT will still pursue further treatment and diagnostic if necessary.
Basically, if there is a DPT administering these massage techniques, I would trust it, and it may well be a treatment or component of treatment that benefits you. I would never go to see a "chiropractor" though, and seeing a massage therapist to treat pain specifically would be similarly dubious in my mind (unless a PT proscribes and refers you, but they would likely do the technique themselves or have a PTA do it). Since you said it was a specialist recommending it, it's probably fine
