Muscles
Triceps Brachii Trigger Points
Symptom Area: Upper Back, Shoulder and Arm
Triceps Brachii 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. Extends the elbow; long head extends the shoulder.
Where you feel it
When the Triceps Brachii holds active trigger points, you usually notice it as front of arm pain, lateral epicondylar pain, medial epicondylar pain, olecranon pain and volar forearm pain. Where the pain spreads: Posterior shoulder, lateral epicondyle, and dorsal forearm — a hidden cause of 'tennis elbow' pain. What often sets it off: Push-ups, dips, sustained overhead writing, sleeping with arm overhead.
Overview
Extends the elbow; long head extends 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
Three heads across the posterior arm.
Referred pain pattern
Posterior shoulder, lateral epicondyle, and dorsal forearm — a hidden cause of 'tennis elbow' pain.
Palpation & testing
Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course. Reproduction of the patient's familiar pain on palpation supports involvement.
Common causes
Push-ups, dips, sustained overhead writing, sleeping with arm overhead.
Self-care & clinical treatment
Cross-body stretch, scapular control. Clinically: needling each head.
Treatment protocol
For Triceps Brachii, 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
- Tennis elbow that will not heal: the trigger points behind outer elbow pain
- Hands that go numb at night: the trigger points that imitate carpal tunnel syndrome
- Lateral Epicondylar Pain: which trigger points cause it and how to treat them
- Medial Epicondylar 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
- • Effectiveness of dry needling for upper-quarter myofascial pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis — J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2013;43(9):620-34
- • The effectiveness of trigger point dry needling for musculoskeletal conditions by physical therapists: a systematic review and meta-analysis — J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(3):133-49
- • Effectiveness of trigger point dry needling for multiple body regions: a systematic review — J Man Manip Ther 2015;23(5):276-93
- • A systematic review of manual therapy techniques, dry cupping and dry needling in the reduction of myofascial pain and myofascial trigger points — J Bodyw Mov Ther 2019;23(3):539-46
- • Physiologic effects of dry needling — Curr Pain Headache Rep 2013;17(8):348
- • Trigger point dry needling for the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome: current perspectives within a pain neuroscience paradigm — J Pain Res 2019;12:1899-911
- • Myofascial trigger points then and now: a historical and scientific perspective — PM R 2015;7(7):746-61
- • Pertinent dry needling considerations for minimizing adverse effects — Int J Sports Phys Ther 2016;11(5):651-62
- • Adverse events associated with therapeutic dry needling — Int J Sports Phys Ther 2020;15(1):103-13
- • Lidocaine injection versus dry needling to myofascial trigger point: the importance of the local twitch response — Am J Phys Med Rehabil 1994;73(4):256-63
- • Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual (2nd ed.) — Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore
Medically reviewed by: Marco Aruffo — physiotherapist since 2006, specialised in myofascial pain · Last reviewed:
