Page 9 of "The Biology of Trigger Points: What they are, what they do, and when and why they occur". Biology of Trigger Points: Introduction and Contents | Reference List Previous Page | Next Page

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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 follwoing 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 © Bruce Thomson Return to Top