The erector spinae muscles are a group of muscles the travel the length of your spine. They are responsible for spinal movement and stabilization. These muscles often become overloaded with poor posture of the spine. As a result trigger points often form. These points can cause pain to be felt anywhere along the spine and back. Some of these points can even refer pain into the front abdomen as well
One of the most common forms of pain I see in my practice is neck and shoulder pain. Many people have jobs that require the muscles of the neck and upper back to work overtime to keep proper neck posture. Sitting in front of a computer all day or being stuck in a car or truck for example will eventually cause these muscles to become strained and develop trigger points. These trigger points will then cause pain, referred pain, stiffness and weakness. Neck and upper back trigger points will refer pain into the neck and head.
The Abdominal muscles what people think of as your six pack muscles. They are mostly responsible for flexing the spine and postural stability. These muscles are often tight in people with poor posture with a rounded spine. This causes trigger points to developed. Trigger points in the abs cause pain to be felt in the abdomen, but also frequently in the back. Trigger points in the upper abdominals refer pain into the mid back, and points in the lower abdominals produce lower back pain.
“Muscle is an orphan organ. No medical specialty claims it. As a consequence, no medical specialty is concerned with promoting funded research into the muscular causes of pain, and medical students and physical therapists rarely receive adequate primary training in how to recognize and treat myofascial trigger points.”
— David G.Simons, MD pioneer in myofascial pain and trigger points and aerospace physician
Trigger points are one of the most common sources of pain in the body. Almost everyone has experienced pain from trigger points at some point in their lives. Without treatment trigger points don’t go away. Trigger point massage therapy is one effective way to treat trigger points.
The pectoralis minor muscle is a small strip like muscle located underneath the pectoralis major. It functions to protect the shoulder and aid in scapular movement and stabilization. This muscle almost always has trigger points in it due to chronic poor posture where the shoulders are rounded. Federal pain from these trigger points will cause pain to be felt in the chest and down the arm.
The Infraspinatus muscle is part of the rotator cuff. It acts to move and stabilize the shoulder. This muscle is often chronically strained in people who have a rounded shoulder posture. With this type of strain trigger points can develop. These knots in the muscle will cause pain to be felt in the front of the shoulder and down the arm.
The supraspinatus muscle is one of your rotator cuff muscles in the shoulder. It helps to move and stabilize the shoulder joint. Poor posture can cause this muscle to become strained and irritated. Rounded shoulders can cause strain in this muscle and can even cause the tendon of this muscle to become impinged with overhead shoulder movement. Trigger points that form in this muscle will cause pain to be felt in the shoulder, elbow, and down the arm.
The pectoralis major is the main chest muscle. In mainly functions to adduct the arm, and medially rotate the arm. This muscle is always right with a rounded shoulder posture. When trigger points form in this muscle they produce pain felt in the chest and down the arm.
The rhomboids are muscles between your shoulder blades that are mainly responsible for pulling your shoulder blades back. Poor sitting posture with the shoulders slumped and rounded forward causes these muscles to become strained and overloaded. When this happens trigger points can form, causing achy pain and restlessness between the shoulder blades.
Aberdeen Chiropractic 