Kipupisteet

Kipupisteet is a Finnish term that translates roughly to “pain points” and is used in several fields to denote specific locations where pain is felt or can be provoked. In medical contexts, kipupisteet refer to tender or hypersensitive areas in muscle tissue or fascia that can produce local or referred pain. They are commonly investigated in musculoskeletal assessments and may be identified through palpation, patient symptom mapping, and, in research, measurements of pressure pain thresholds.

Clinically, identifying kipupisteet helps target therapies such as physiotherapy, manual therapy, stretching routines, dry needling, or other multimodal approaches to reduce pain and improve function. The concept overlaps with myofascial trigger points and myofascial pain syndrome, though exact definitions and terminology can vary among clinicians and disciplines.

Beyond medicine, kipupisteet also appear in discussions of systems and processes to describe points of difficulty or harm for users. In ergonomics and user experience design, mapping kipupisteet helps prioritize improvements, safety measures, and support resources to reduce friction and enhance usability.

Etymology: kipu means pain and pisteet means points; the compound is used primarily in Finnish-language discourse. Depending on the context, the term may be aligned with the English notions of pain points or trigger points.

See also: trigger point, myofascial pain syndrome, pain management, user experience, pain point analysis.