Trigger Points Part 1: Why Muscles Knot Up and Refuse to Let Go
- Randon Taylor
- Sep 22
- 4 min read
We’ve all felt them. That hard, marble-like knot in your shoulder blade. The tight band in your neck that won’t stretch out. You press on it, and it’s sore — but strangely relieving at the same time. These aren’t just “tight muscles.” They’re trigger points, and they behave very differently from ordinary tension.
A trigger point is more than a nuisance. It’s a miniature energy crisis inside your muscle — one that can lock in place for weeks, months, or even years if not released.
A Quick Story
One of my patients came in with what she thought was just “chronic tension” in her neck. She’d lived with it for years, convinced it was just stress. But when I examined her, she had multiple trigger points pulling on her neck muscles and fascia, radiating pain into her jaw and even causing headaches. Once we released those knots, her range of motion improved instantly — and the headaches that had plagued her for months eased dramatically.
That’s the difference between ordinary tension and a true trigger point: one fades with rest, the other lingers until you break the cycle.
What Exactly Is a Trigger Point?
Muscles contract when actin and myosin (two key proteins) slide past each other. Normally, ATP (your cell’s energy currency) allows them to disengage so the muscle can relax. In a trigger point, this cycle breaks down:
Actin–myosin cross-bridges stay locked.
The fiber remains shortened.
Local blood flow is cut off.
Without oxygen and ATP, the cycle can’t reset. It’s like an engine stalling in traffic — frozen in contraction, unable to restart.
The Local Chemistry
This stalled contraction creates its own toxic micro-environment:
Ischemia & hypoxia → poor circulation means oxygen can’t get in.
Hydrogen ions (H⁺) → lower the pH, irritating nerves.
Lactate → builds up from anaerobic metabolism.
Inflammatory mediators → bradykinin, prostaglandins, substance P, cytokines.
ATP depletion → no energy to release the contraction.
Potassium efflux → excites nearby nerve endings, amplifying pain.
This chemical stew lowers the pain threshold so much that even gentle touch, stretch, or activation feels sharp or burning.
The Feedback Loops That Keep Knots Alive
Trigger points hijack the nervous system through self-reinforcing loops:
Muscle spindle overactivity keeps the taut band firing.
GTO under-response fails to override the contraction.
Nociceptor sensitization teaches your brain to expect pain in that spot.
The longer it goes on, the more entrenched the trigger point becomes.
Fascia: The Hidden Web That Spreads Tension
Muscles don’t exist in isolation. They’re wrapped in fascia — a continuous sheet of connective tissue linking one muscle to the next, and even distant regions of the body. When a trigger point pulls on its local fibers, that tension spreads through the fascia like a snag in a spider web.
Local pull: The knot shortens its surrounding fascial sheath.
Tension spread: That shortened fascia tugs on adjacent fibers and nearby muscles.
New trigger points: The added strain creates metabolic stress elsewhere, seeding new knots.
This explains why one stubborn knot in your shoulder can eventually cause pain in your neck, jaw, or even down your arm. Trigger points multiply not just from overuse or injury, but from fascial drag across the system.
When Trigger Points Mimic Nerve Pain
Trigger points don’t just cause dull, aching muscle pain. In some cases, they can irritate or compress nearby nerves, leading to symptoms that look almost identical to neurological conditions.
Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia (ATN)
I’ve found that many cases labeled as ATN — with sharp, burning, or stabbing pain across the face — are actually driven by trigger points in the jaw and head muscles. The masseter, temporalis, and pterygoids can all refer pain along branches of the trigeminal nerve. What feels like a deep neurological problem often resolves dramatically when those knots are released.
Occipital Neuralgia (ON)
Similarly, what gets called occipital neuralgia is often the result of trigger points in the suboccipitals, trapezius, or splenius muscles. These knots pull on the fascia at the base of the skull and irritate the occipital nerves, producing pain up the back of the head and into the eyes. In my experience, most ON cases are not primarily nerve disease, but muscle-generated pain patterns.
👉 My clinical takeaway is this: a large percentage of atypical trigeminal neuralgia and occipital neuralgia cases are really just untreated trigger points. That doesn’t minimize the pain people feel — it means the cause is often far more mechanical, local, and treatable than they’ve been told.
Why They Don’t Just Go Away
Unlike ordinary tension that melts with rest or stretching, trigger points self-sustain:
Poor circulation starves them of oxygen.
Without oxygen, ATP can’t reset contraction.
Without contraction release, circulation stays blocked.
It’s a closed loop. That’s why therapies like ischemic compression, dry needling, or skilled massage often feel like hitting a reset button — they mechanically break the cycle, flush metabolites, and restore circulation.
Why Treatment Matters
Too often, people live with trigger points for years, writing them off as “just tension” or “getting older.” But ignoring them allows the problem to spread. Trigger points pull on fascia, generate new knots, and gradually alter posture, mechanics, and even breathing patterns.
Left untreated, they can:
Create referral pain patterns that mimic other conditions (headaches, neuralgia, sciatica, jaw pain).
Drain systemic energy as the body fights constant metabolic stress.
Lock the nervous system into a state of chronic pain and tension.
The longer they persist, the harder they are to break. Early treatment doesn’t just relieve pain — it prevents a cascade of new trigger points from forming.
Key Takeaway
A trigger point isn’t just a tight muscle. It’s a localized metabolic trap, suffocating in its own waste products, pulling on the fascial web, and recruiting new knots into its orbit.
Left untreated, these local problems can spread — and when enough accumulate, they begin to affect your whole system. That’s what we’ll explore in Part 2: How Muscle Knots Hijack Your Whole System.
We Can Help
If you’ve been living with stubborn muscle knots, recurring pain, or nerve-like symptoms such as facial pain or scalp pain, there’s a strong chance untreated trigger points are the real culprit. At Taylor Made Wellness, I help patients identify and break these cycles so the body can finally heal.
📞 Call (208) 982-8863 or book an appointment at taylormadewellness.org/book-online to learn how we can release your trigger points and restore healthy movement.
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