Trigger Point Therapy
Trigger points are those knots or nodules found in the belly or mid point of a muscle. These knots create a contraction in the muscle, which further creates tenderness, pain, and restriction of muscle movement, postural stress and even nerve and vessel compression.
Trigger points affect people of all ages. We all tend to push our muscles beyond their normal limits. Repetitive motion or strain seems to be the number one cause. Typing away at a keyboard, driving long distances without a break, working with tools, carrying that heavy book bag to school each day or carrying the baby around on your hip, are only a few examples which can set up trigger points in our muscles. You might be amazed if you stop and think about your normal daily routine, just how much strain you put on your muscles by repetitive motion or overload. Additional causes of trigger points include prolonged immobility, overuse, excessive exercise or sports and trauma such as accidents or falls.
Lucky for us, Trigger point therapy is a bodywork technique that was developed in the 1940’s by Dr. Janet Travell. This technique involves applying pressure in specific areas of muscle tissue in order to relieve pain and dysfunction. Trigger point therapy reduces pain and helps to reeducate the muscles into pain-free habits. When this technique is applied correctly, pain diminishes, range of motion is increased, and flexibility is improved.
Trigger point therapy has been beneficial in treating many conditions such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic pain of the back, and shoulders, headaches, muscle spasms, sciatica, temporomandibular joint dysfunction, tennis and golfers elbow, thoracic outlet syndrome and whiplash injuries.
For further research and self help techniques, I highly recommend reading “The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook” by Clair Davies and seeing a knowledgeable therapist, of course!