Trigger Point Therapy: I love it and use it often in my Seattle Treatment Massage practice. Why? Because it is quite effective in helping with immediate relief of pain in trigger points.
What is a Trigger Point?A Trigger Point is not the same as an acupuncture point. When you touch a trigger there is pain and you can feel the spot where it is with your fingers. These areas are often found in “muscle knots” or “taught muscles bands”. Trigger Points usually have blocked blood flow and often cause an entire muscle to be painful, tight, weak, and more easily fatigued. They can be caused by overworking or over stressing muscles or by a direct injury to the muscle.
There are two types of Trigger Points: active and latent. An active trigger point will send pain zinging down your body or pain in another spot on your body when you apply direct pressure. A latent trigger point will only have pain in the spot you are actually touching.
How does Trigger Point Therapy work? Trigger Point therapy works by applying direct pressure or deep strokes on the spot or stretches. During this, it is important for the client to breathe deeply and evenly. Slowly the pain and tension will melt. This creates a release in the muscle that can give you greater flexibility, a decrease in stiffness and increase in local blood flow. Massage practitioners find these points by using our skill of sensitivity in our hands or even our elbows. Trigger Point Therapy can be used in conjunction with many other types of massage including Swedish Massage, Myofascial Release, Sports Massage, Deep Tissue Massage, Lomi Lomi, and especially Treatment Massage.
Does Trigger Point Therapy hurt?It does not have to. When I apply Trigger Point Therapy on my clients we are in constant communication. I slowly increase the intensity of the work checking in with the clients comfort level. Some clients prefer that I go quite deep to that “hurts good” point. If at anytime you are not comfortable with the depth or intensity of your massage, it is important that you communicate that to your practitioner. Everyone has a different pain threshold and it is to be respected.
Trigger Point Therapy can be used to treat:
General muscle Pain
Jaw (TMJ) pain
Headaches and migraines
Whiplash/Neck pain
Tennis Elbow
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Frozen Shoulder
Foot pain or Plantar Fasciitis
So, if you are noticing you have spots in your muscle that are painful to the touch, I highly recommend you find a therapist that can asses if Trigger Point Therapy is going to help you find relief from that pain. Thank you, PJ Harris, LMP. http://www.pjharris.com/
this is a great blog you have here! i do trigger points on my clients all the time and they always comment that it hurts so good, like you said. it is so helpful!
Hi PJ,
You have so much good information here! Thanks. When my hip was at its worst I had lots of trigger points. I learned to do self-massage to relieve some of the pain. But it’s hard to reach all those places. Wish I had known about your practice back then.
@Sunny, thanks for your comment. It is always great to get encouragement from a colleague.
@Marie, I am glad your hip is better and thanks for reading.
PJ Harris, LMP
I firmly believe in this pointed version of a deep-tissue massage. Let me say that it does hurt @ the point if you’re not used to your muscles being manipulated in such a fashion, but realize that the therapist is doing it to elevate unwarranted stress placed on the specific target areas so it will be in normal-working order as soon as possible. I personally have had similar types of massages in New York near my job when I got a kink here and there due to working out, but in the end it will being your areas of discomfort back into place. It does work.
It is a very awesome information. Thanks for sharing. St. Petersburg FL back pain