Muscles
Deltoid Trigger Points
Symptom Area: Upper Back, Shoulder and Arm
Deltoid Trigger Points are explored here through their location and referred pain pattern. Muscle knots is an everyday term used for tender muscular spots; myofascial pain describes pain involving muscle and its surrounding connective tissue. Flexes and internally rotates the shoulder.
Where you feel it
When the Deltoid holds active trigger points, you usually notice it as back of shoulder pain and front of shoulder pain. Where the pain spreads: Local anterior shoulder pain that worsens with reaching forward. What often sets it off: Bench pressing, overhead lifting, sustained mouse use.
Overview
Flexes and internally rotates the shoulder. Trigger points here are common in everyday and athletic populations and frequently contribute to the referred pain patterns described below.
Trigger point locations
Anterior shoulder over the clavicular fibers.
Referred pain pattern
Local anterior shoulder pain that worsens with reaching forward.
Palpation & testing
Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course. Reproduction of the patient's familiar pain on palpation supports involvement.
Common causes
Bench pressing, overhead lifting, sustained mouse use.
Self-care & clinical treatment
Pec stretches, scapular control. Clinically: needling, load management.
Treatment protocol
For Deltoid, the general protocol applies: sustained pressure release on the taut band, then stretch and active movement in the newly gained range.
Position and palpation: Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course.
Regional precaution for clinicians: Over the upper back and shoulder girdle the pleura lies immediately deep to thin muscle, so pneumothorax is the key risk; needling is performed tangentially or against a bony backstop (rib, scapula), never perpendicular to an intercostal space.
Primary Symptoms
Secondary Symptoms
Often confused with
These muscles cause the same primary symptoms, so they are checked together:
Related muscles in this region
Related articles
- Referred pain: why the spot that hurts is rarely the spot that needs treatment
- The infraspinatus: why the back of your shoulder blade makes the front of your shoulder hurt
- Front of Shoulder Pain: which trigger points cause it and how to treat them
- Front of Arm Pain: which trigger points cause it and how to treat them
References
- • Travell & Simons — Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction
Medically reviewed by: Marco Aruffo — physiotherapist since 2006, specialised in myofascial pain · Last reviewed:
