Muscles
Plantaris Trigger Points
Symptom Area: Leg, Ankle and Foot
Plantaris 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. Small muscle behind the knee with a long tendon; trigger points cause pain at the back of the knee and upper calf.
Where you feel it
When the Plantaris holds active trigger points, you usually notice it as posterior knee pain. Where the pain spreads: Pain behind the knee spreading into the upper half of the calf. What often sets it off: Sprint starts and sudden push-off, hill running, jumping sports, a sudden lunge with the knee extended and ankle dorsiflexed.
Overview
Plantaris arises above the lateral femoral condyle and sends a long slender tendon down the calf to the heel. It contributes little power but is richly supplied with proprioceptors, and it is a frequently overlooked source of posterior knee pain.
Trigger point locations
A point in the small belly at the back of the knee, just above and lateral to the lateral head of gastrocnemius.
Referred pain pattern
Pain behind the knee spreading into the upper half of the calf.
Palpation & testing
With the patient prone and the knee slightly flexed, palpate deep in the upper lateral popliteal region; pressure over the taut band reproduces the posterior knee pain.
Common causes
Sprint starts and sudden push-off, hill running, jumping sports, a sudden lunge with the knee extended and ankle dorsiflexed.
Self-care & clinical treatment
Calf stretching with the knee straight and bent, gradual return to sprinting and jumping, self-massage of the upper calf. Clinically: needling of plantaris with gastrocnemius and soleus; exclude DVT, Baker cyst and meniscal pathology in posterior knee pain.
Treatment protocol
For Plantaris, the general protocol applies: sustained pressure release on the taut band, then stretch and active movement in the newly gained range.
Position and palpation: With the patient prone and the knee slightly flexed, palpate deep in the upper lateral popliteal region; pressure over the taut band reproduces the posterior knee pain.
Regional precaution for clinicians: In the calf, ankle and foot the tibial nerve and posterior tibial vessels in the deep posterior compartment, the common peroneal nerve at the fibular neck and the plantar neurovascular bundle guide needle placement.
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
References
- • triggerpoints.net — reference
Medically reviewed by: Marco Aruffo — physiotherapist since 2006, specialised in myofascial pain · Last reviewed:
