The platysma is a muscle of your front neck. If it is tense or carries trigger points, it can trigger chest and facial pain.
On this page I will explain how to relieve these tensions and trigger points with a self-massage, along with pain in the face and chest.
Provided of course, that these ailments have a muscular origin, which is often the case.
You will also learn
Trigger points in the platysma can cause prickling pain in the cheek, chin and mandible.
If trigger points are located directly on or above the clavicle, they can cause prickling pain in the front part of the chest.
The tingling that this muscle can cause feels like “needles”, instead of the “electrical tingling” that is mostly neurological in origin.
If facial pain occurs in combination with headaches, also the Sternocleidomastoid/SCM may carry active trigger points.
The trigger points of the platysma overlap those of the SCM, which may favor the activation of trigger points in the SCM.
The platysma is embedded in the subcutaneous connective tissue (i.e. under the skin) of the lower face and neck.
Its fibers connect with many other muscles and structures in this area. Among other spots, it attaches to the
Trigger points in this muscle are often activated by active overload or by satellite trigger points.
You can overload the muscle by constantly using exaggerated empathic facial expressions in conversations.
Trigger points in the SCM and the Scalenes can trigger pain in the area of the neck and face, i.e. in the area where the platysma lies.
Over time, this possibly overloads the muscle and activates trigger points – this is referred to as satellite trigger points.
Feeling the muscle is easy. Simply contract it by moving the corners of your mouth downwards and the skin of your neck upwards.
Now you can feel the muscle throughout its entire length.
But it’s also possible to palpate it more accurately:
Use your fingers for the massage. As a massage technique, you can use the ischemic compression, precise massage strokes or the pressure-motion technique.
On this page, I show you the precise massage strokes, or in this case, the precise rolling movements.
Massage with thumb and index finger: Precise rolling movements