Muscle pains and trigger points

[Guest guest]

James, Kim and everyone else with muscle pain. What those knots are are

Myofascial Trigger Points. The contraction knot is the result of an

injury, poor posture, a blow to the body, a fall or near fall,

structural imbalances and a lot of other things. It is very common to

get trigger points and I have yet to find a human with NO trigger

points, even children. many times they are laid down in falls as rough

and tumble children and they generally will stay for life.

 

They will revert to a latent state and not cause pain unless they are

compressed (pushes on) but they can be activated by another injury or

over use, or stress etc and become painful again. The pain from trigger

points is very often referred to another area of the body (about 75% of

the time) so it is difficult for the person to find which knot is

causing the problem. This is true also for the massage therapist with a

bit on education about trigger points.

 

My training was a a year long and we spent all of it going through the

medical text written by Drs David Simons and Janet Travell. I also do

massage but it was not part of my schooling and I learned it afterward.

If you are lucky enough to find a Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist

or Myotherapist in your area, go to that person for the best and

fastest relief from trigger points. The next best in someone who is a

massage therapist trained in Neuromuscular therapy. They have had

training in specific ways to reduce and eliminate trigger points from a

massage point of view. If nothing else find a book called The Trigger

Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies. It is a self help book that

shows the pain patterns and where the trigger points are. It is easy to

read and understand. The author is incorrect when he says that you do

not need to stretch and he does not give stretches for the muscles

treated. He does a great job at helping someone to treat themselves,

but misses a very important part of the therapy and long term relief.

 

Some Chiropractors claim to do Trigger point therapy and in my

experience, they have no idea what they are doing and do nothing more

than aggravate the trigger points. Often chiropractic adjustments are

very much needed and the combination of trigger point therapy and

chiropractic is very good.

 

The trigger points will not relax with medications or arnica, the

arnica may help, but it is for different reasons. The physical knot is

a contraction knot, it is self sustaining and you can not relax it

away. Direct sustained pressure, not rubbing around in circles or

kneading, and then carefully stretching the muscle involved is what

will do the trick. Also a needle with a numbing agent, a dry needle, or

an accupunture needle directly into the trigger point will release it

also, one needs to find a properly trained MD or acupuncturist for

this type of treatment and it is much more painful than the hands on

therapy.

 

A tennis ball is a good substitute for the therapists hands once you

understand where to go and what to do. Another good book (that is what

got me started) is Bonnie Prudden's Pain Erasure. it is a bit harder to

grasp, but she is all into the stretches and strengthening.

 

Yep, I do this for a living, but my goal here is to help more people

understand what the majority of muscle pain is caused by! Yep, most

dull aching pain, headaches, migraines, back pain, arm and hand pain,

repetitive stress injuries, chronic pain etc etc etc is caused by these

dysfunctional spots in the muscles. All muscles of the body can have

them and each causes a distinct pain pattern. The nerves can be

entrapped by the tight muscles caused by the trigger point and cause

" nerve pain " such as sciatica and carpal tunnel and thoracic outlet

syndrome. Most tension headaches are from trigger points in the

shoulders and neck.

 

This is a very good thing for everybody to know and understand. You can

treat yourself relatively well with a little education, and if you can

find someone trained in it, you can often get extremely effective

results, even for long term problems.

 

If anyone wants more info on the subject, you might " Google " for

myofascial trigger points or send me a note with trigger point therapy

in the subject. I can not always read this list, so you will get to me

faster if you email me directly.

 

Mary Jo

 

On Sep 28, 2004, at 11:44 AM, herbal remedies wrote:

 

> Kim,

>

> Have you seen a good chiroprator and a massage therapist. Your pain

> is connected but not in the way that allopatic medicine is willing to

> admit. I have similar problems. One is with a condition that is

> called entrapped nerves. When the smooth muscles of the back are

> injured, they compress into a tight knot. As this knot becomes

> harder and deeper, it starts to pull the rest of the muscles, nerves

> and spine out of place. To test this on yourself, you or your

> significant other rub your back and see if there are any spots that

> are painful when pressed. If so, you have found your knot.

>

> In order for you to heal, you need to find a way to relax the muscles

> that are knotted. Anrinca may help, but since it has been at least

> one year since your injury, I doubt that it will do much.

>

> I have also had some help from accupuncture. It is really very good

> at releasing knotted muscles. However, accupuncture is much better

> when used in combination with massage and chiropractic adjustments.

>

> James