Health Watch: Trigger Point Therapy Brings Relief

NEW YORK (CBS) ― A growing number of people are turning to needles to relieve their chronic pain. It's called "trigger point therapy," and many say it's bringing the relief they desperately need.

Nathalie Dinoia developed chronic back and neck pain after a close call at Ground Zero on 9/11.

"I was there when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center and I fell on my side cracking my neck, falling on my hip," she said. "The pain is very tremendous. Your muscles are tight, tight, tight."

After physical therapy and appointments with the chiropractor didn't help, she turned to Dr. Alexander Kulick for trigger point therapy.

"Immediate release. I was feeling to be back to be normal," she said.

Trigger point therapy involves inserting needles into the muscles at special points that cause them to twitch and then relax for good.

"A trigger point really is part of the muscle that is most constricted," said Dr. Kulick.

The needles used in trigger point injections usually contain a small amount of anesthesia and saline or salt water. But even when no medications are injected, just applying pressure to the points can give some relief. Dr. Kulick said the treatement can be used for many kinds of pain, ranging from muscle pain to migraines.

"A pattern of pain that kind of goes across the side of the head and around the eyes, and that really can be related to a trigger point, a muscle that is spasmed at the base of your neck," said Dr. Kulick.

Alison Chrisman had severe muscle spasms in her hips and spine, and although she describes the treatments as slightly uncomfortably at first, it was well worth it.

"Most recently I was incapacitated. I couldn't walk, I couldn't stand up straight," she said.

But after having gone through trigger point therapy?

"I walked out of here in no pain after the second session,"she said.

Trigger point therapy should only be administered by a licensed physician trained in the technique. Although rare complications such as puncturing a lung have occurred, milder side effects such as redness and swelling around the injection site are most common.

In most cases, stretching exercises and physical therapy are performed following trigger point injections. Check with your insurer, not all of them cover this procedure.