All about trigger points

When it comes to the world of massage therapy, there is a lot that you should learn in order to make sure that you are receiving the right kind of treatment for your problems. There are many terms that you should familiarize yourself with and you should work towards learning the different types of massage therapy that are available, along with the problems that the specific types of treatment are intended to aid. In this article, we’ll teach you about trigger points, an important thing to understand if you are delving into the world of massage therapy.

Trigger points (also referred to as myofascial trigger points) are points that are found throughout the muscles of the body which are more irritable than the other parts of the muscles. These trigger points (often called "knots" by the lay person) have a unique characteristic in that they send pain travelling to other parts of the body, sometimes no where near the actual trigger point itself. 

Myofascial trigger points have been found to be the cause of many different types of muscle pain that an individual may experience. To that end, many massage therapists incorporate the knowledge of trigger points into their therapeutic programs in order to help their patients to recover more quickly.

During Kennedy’s presidency, a woman named Janet G. Travell was brought in to help him to treat his back pain. Her techniques ended up working wonders and she was appointed as the first female personal physician to the president. The secret to her success was her knowledge of the trigger points and how to use them to her advantage. In the year 1983, she published a book entitled "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual" which detailed some of the work that she had performed and her feelings on the art of trigger point therapy.

Her writings contributed greatly to our knowledge of trigger points. In the book, she suggested that as much as seventy five percent of people utilizing pain clinic likely have pain problems caused by trigger points. This clearly illustrates how important knowledge of the trigger points should be to any serious massage therapist. She also stated that many health problems were commonly misdiagnosed due to an underlying problem with trigger points. Carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, and angina pectoris were only a few of the problems that were often misdiagnosed. She also argued that the pain experienced by arthritis sufferers was often due to a problem with trigger points.

While we are still unsure about our knowledge regarding trigger points and why they exist, many people have found that trigger point treatment is useful when it comes to helping them to get rid of the problems that are affecting their health due to pain. There are many different ways that trigger points can be treated, including manual massage, mechanical vibrations, and ultrasounds. The benefits of massage therapy for trigger points are completely dependent on the level of skill of the practitioner; to that end, you should ensure that you are getting the best treatment for your money. Make sure that the practitioner that you are visiting has plenty of experience in the field of trigger points, and it never hurts to have a recommendation for a practitioner.