Trigger Points: Neurogenic Inflammation
The same nerve fiber that conducts a pain message from the trigger point to the spinal cord also releases
pro-inflammatory substances into the tissues that it innervates (substance P and
calcitonin gene-related peptide - see ref. 4,). This activity of the pain carrying
nerve fiber is called "neurogenic inflammation". (See also ref. 9 for
a useful summary of current knoweldge on neurogenic inflammation).
Neurogenic inflammation may be one of many explanations as to why trigger points
persist and worsen.
Neurogenic Inflammation and Referred Pain...
Referred neurogenic inflammation (via axon branching, and also via
the sympathetic nervous system, mechanisms 1 and 4, previous page) has the potential
to explain some or all of the links between trigger points and the following referral zone phenomena:
itchy skin, ticklish coughs, sinusitis, tearing, tendon degeneration (tendinosis)
and ligament and joint inflammation. Trigger points are for example strongly
associated with "frozen shoulder"(3), which is recognised as a women's condition (three times more women have
frozen shoulders than men - see ref. 7); neurogenic inflammation is also recognised to be a women's condition(9).
Referred neurogenic inflammation may well be the cause (see case discussions that follow).
Biology of Trigger Points: Neurogenic Inflammation
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Biology of trigger points:
© Bruce Thomson, EasyVigour Project
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