“Trigger Points: The Tiny Muscle Demons Sabotaging Your Climbing (And How to Exorcise Them)”

Ever feel like a random muscle in your forearm or shoulder has just decided to boycott movement? Maybe there’s this stubborn knot in your back that feels like a tiny demon is gripping onto your muscle fibers for dear life. Congratulations, my friend—you might have a trigger point.

Now, before you start smashing it with a lacrosse ball in blind desperation, let’s break this down. What the hell is a trigger point? Why do they form? And most importantly—how do you get rid of them so you can get back to sending instead of wincing?

WTF Is a Trigger Point?

A myofascial trigger point is a hyperirritable nodule within a taut band of skeletal muscle, often palpable as a small, tender lump. It is basically a pissed-off section of muscle that’s stuck in a self-sustaining contraction. Think of it as a tiny muscle gremlin hoarding tension and refusing to let go. These spots can be tender to the touch and might even send pain to other areas (this is called referred pain—because why suffer in just one place when you can suffer in two or more?).

Trigger points come in two varieties:

   •       Active Trigger Points – These bad boys hurt even when you’re not poking them. They can limit movement, mess with your strength, and generally make life miserable.

   •       Latent Trigger Points – These are like landmines hiding in your muscles. They don’t hurt until you press on them, but they can still cause tightness, weakness, and poor movement patterns.

For climbers, these nasty little knots love to show up in overworked muscles like the forearms, shoulders, upper traps, and lats. They’re basically your body’s way of saying, “Hey, maybe stop death-gripping everything for a minute (or even a few days).”

Why Do Trigger Points Happen?

Short answer: muscle abuse. Long answer: A combination of overuse, poor recovery, and sub-optimal (shitty) movement patterns.

1. Overuse & Repetitive Strain

Climbers are specialists at doing the same movement a million times, whether it’s crimping, locking off, hangboarding, or campus training. This constant, high-tension muscle activation can lead to energy depletion and oxygen starvation in your muscles, making them more likely to lock up in an angry little ball of tension. Your psych has overmatched your tissue capacity.

2. Sub-Optimal Movement Patterns & Compensation

Climbers tend to be world-class compensators and often develop significant muscle imbalances. This is not the end of the world and usually doesn’t cause any problems at all. But put several years of training on these compensation patterns and trigger points are likely to develop. If one muscle is trying to do the job of another muscle, it will get pissed. Just like when you have to cover for a coworker who’s not pulling their weight.

3. Poor Recovery & Blood Flow Issues

Trigger points thrive in low-oxygen, high-tension environments. If you’re not letting your muscles recover properly, or if you’re skipping out on things like mobility work, hydration, and proper nutrition, your muscles won’t flush out metabolic waste efficiently. This buildup of waste products (like bradykinin and substance P—aka the nasty stuff that makes pain worse) leads to… you guessed it—more trigger points.

4. Stress & Postural Train Wrecks

Ever noticed that your shoulders creep up to your ears when you’re stressed? Chronic stress causes low-level muscle tension all damn day, which can make trigger points worse. Add in bad posture (hello, rounded shoulders and hunched backs from all that hangboarding), and your muscles never get a chance to chill out.

How Do You Fix This Mess?

Alright, enough doom and gloom. Let’s talk about solutions. Trigger points might be persistent little shits, but they’re not invincible. Here’s how to fight back:

1. Manual Therapy: Smash & Release

The goal here is to apply enough pressure to the trigger point to get it to relax and release. You don’t need to go to tears, just good strong pressure and if it’s hurting, it’s working. You can do this with:

   •       Ischemic Compression (a fancy term for pressing down hard until the pain starts to ease up). Find the trigger point, press on it for 30-90 seconds, and feel it melt away. Then move on to the next trigger point in the same muscle or a new muscle.

   •       Deep Tissue Massage or Myofascial Release – You can DIY this with a lacrosse ball, foam roller, massage hook, or even your knuckles. Roll slowly over the area and breathe through the discomfort.

   •       Trigger Point Dry Needling – If you want a pro to handle it, a physical therapist can use tiny needles to reset the muscle’s dysfunction and improve blood flow. Research shows that this is super effective for stubborn trigger points (Gattie et al., 2017).

💡 Climber Tip: Spend some quality time working on your forearms, shoulders, and upper traps. These areas take a beating from climbing and are prime real estate for trigger points.

2. Movement & Mobility: Stop Moving Like a Rusty Robot

Once you’ve released the trigger point, you’ve got to retrain the muscle to move correctly, or it’ll just tighten back up like a bad habit.

·      Strengthening Exercises – Strengthening helps remodel dysfunctional muscle tissue and prevents the trigger point from reforming. Target the stabilizer muscles we use for climbing. Think wrist curls, shoulder external rotations, and scapular retractions.

·      Stretching – After release work, do some slow, active or dynamic stretching to reduce sensitivity and restore normal muscle length.

·      Postural Corrections – If your resting posture looks like a collapsed tent, fixing that will help prevent future issues. Strengthen your scapular stabilizers and deep neck flexors to keep your body happily lined up.

💡 Climber Tip: After smashing your forearms with a lacrosse ball, do wrist extensor and flexor stretches followed by wrist curls to fatigue to reinforce muscle balance and good movement patterns.

3. Load Management: Stop Overloading Your Tissues 

If you keep trashing your muscles with zero regard for recovery, you’re going to keep dealing with trigger points. Here’s how to not do that:

   •       Warm Up Like You Mean It – Jumping straight into a session cold is like trying to onsight a V10 when you should be working V5s. Do dynamic movements and activation drills before you start cranking.

   •       Regulate Your Intensity – If your fingers, shoulders, or forearms feel tweaky, listen to your body. Dial things back for a session instead of pushing through.

   •       Recover Harder Than You Train – Sleep, hydrate, eat enough protein, and take your rest days seriously. Recovery isn’t just about feeling better—it’s about performing better long-term.

Final Takeaway: Be Smarter Than Your Muscles

Trigger points aren’t a death sentence, but they are a sign that your body needs some attention. Whether it’s overuse, stress, or just sub-optimal (shitty) movement patterns, these little knots are your body’s way of waving a red flag.

Fix them by releasing the tension, retraining the muscle, and managing your workload smarter. If you’re stuck in a cycle of pain and can’t seem to shake it, hit up Rock Rehab—we’ll get you sorted out so you can get back to sending instead of suffering.

🔥 Got a persistent muscle gremlin wrecking your climbing? Book a session at Rock Rehab and let’s fix it for good. 🔥