Triggin from DHDL: buttons for pain

Using a colored button and a roll of kinesio tape, two physiotherapists and an industrial designer want to help as many people as possible get a painful everyday problem under control. Tense and hardened muscles are best loosened and made supple with a massage. But there is often not enough time for that. Massage tools such as foam rollers or balls are a good alternative for at home. But it also takes discipline and will, because the massage ball won’t roll over the painful calf on its own. Jan Winter and Bastian Hehner are experts and know that these hurdles are too high for many people. So they worked on and developed a trigger tool for everyday life the trigger button. (A notice: The product was presented in the Vox program “The Lions’ Den” on October 10, 2022 under the name “TRIGGid”.). The button weighs only a few grams and is intended to treat painful trigger points for up to 24 hours – when shopping, in the office or while exercising. Combined with classic Kinesio tape, even laypeople should be able to use Triggin without any problems. Sounds a little too good to be true? We found it too. And we subjected Triggin to a practical test.

Triggin comes in a small folding box. Even laypeople can see at first glance that this is a medical product “Made in Germany”. Because that is exactly what is prominently displayed on the top of the packaging. On the back you can find out briefly and concisely how works and what you can expect from the small button. Inside we find a roll of kinesio tape (in our set of 2 in blue and pink), a ten-page manual in practical DIN A6 format and the heart: the trigger button. It is in two parts and has approximately the diameter of a 1 euro coin. The lower orange part is made of flexible plastic (ABS and TPE) and is visually reminiscent of a mini spinning top. It converges like a cone in the middle to form a point. A small pin protrudes from the middle of the white hard plastic counterpart, so that the two parts can be easily connected to each other like a push button.

The experienced physiotherapist and endurance athlete Kristina Jago took a close look at Triggid and glued it carefully. She also found the instructions praiseworthy. Apart from one point, even a layperson in this area will be guided safely through the correct application. The tape can be easily cut and cut to the appropriate length. In order to integrate the trigger button into the Kinesio tape, it should be folded in the middle and slightly cut at the fold. The trigger button will later be inserted into this hole. This also worked as described in our test. Unsurprisingly, our expert had no problems locating the ominous trigger points. The button-tape combination was professionally placed on the cervical spine as well as on the elbow, shoulder and shin and was worn over a longer period of time.

We discovered that, apart from the shin, you need help on all other parts of the body if Triggin is to be attached correctly. This is also the only weakness of the instructions. Because it doesn’t mention that the tape has to be applied with full tension in order to achieve the desired effect. Unfortunately, this important information can only be found on the website. And even with the help of your partner, Triggid is not a sure-fire success. Especially for men, the body hair on the legs and neck prevents the kinesio tape from holding permanently and tightly. There’s only one thing that helps at this point: shaving. We found it really convincing on the shin and the elbow. Here the button can be placed close to the bone, which our expert found to be important in order to permanently stimulate the trigger points in everyday life. Here she even momentarily forgot that Triggid was stuck to her shin and pressed the tip of the button into her bone as she sat down on the floor. The result: a small bruise. In this context, we asked ourselves why the trigger button wasn’t designed to be a little flatter. Other tools that treat trigger points use less sharp pressure points.

On the neck, Triggin failed to have any effect in our test, regardless of hair and tension on the tape. Too small, too pointed and not long enough, says the physiotherapist. From her point of view, the popular fascia ball is better suited to working on the tension.

“The idea is good,” says physiotherapist Jago, who viewed through professional lenses, but also put himself in the role of a layman. And here Triggin particularly scored points with his simple and easy-to-understand instructions. If you need more information, the website is an even better choice. From our point of view, a good addition to the Kinesio tape is the mini tool for trigger points on the shins and elbows. Here the button actually increases the effect of Kinesiotape. In many other places, however, the button-tape combination doesn’t hold as it should. You have to shave here. It is not clear to us why the button on the orange underside is so pointed that it can painfully dig into the skin during certain movements. In practice it also turned out that Triggin can only be placed and glued to the shin itself. For all other pain points, help is required when gluing and fixing.

Two further points should not go unmentioned at this point. Triggin is reusable. That’s true so far. Unfortunately, the adhesive on the tape is quite stubborn and can only be removed from the trigger button with a little fiddling and patience. What should also be taken into account in this context: Depending on how often Triggin is used, the tape will sooner or later be used up and have to be repurchased.

This article was first published on October 10, 2022.