Are Trigger Points Causing Your Pain?

I'm perusing The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief and thought I would share a quote from the introduction:

"There is growing evidence that most of our common aches and pains--and many other puzzling physical complaints--are actually caused by tigger points, or small contraction knots, in the muscles of the body.  Pain clinic doctors skilled at detecting and treating trigger points have found that they're the primary cause of pain roughly 75 percent of the time and are at least a part of virtually every pain problem... Trigger points are known to cause headaches, neck and jaw pain, low back pain, the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, and many kinds of joint pain mistakenly ascribed to arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, or ligament injury."

The first two chapters of the book are devoted to explaining trigger points and telling how you can treat them on your own by massaging the right areas with a thera cane or even an old tennis ball.  The next 200+ pages explain in detail what trigger points in what muscles can result in pain in what body parts (it's not always obvious--a trigger point in your back or chest can be responsible for pain in the hands), and the book tells you how to work at them in order to make them better.

It's really an interesting book, and I'm going to spend some quality time with it.  I've tried getting rid of the RSI in my hands by strengthening the muscles with Flextend, but that hasn't been enough for me.  So, this is making me think trigger points elsewhere in my body may be the real problem or at least a part of the problem. 

If you suffer from headaches, jaw aches, RSI, tense muscles... any of that stuff, and it seems to keep coming back, I definitely recommend checking out this book. 

Comments

[Patrik]

That is an awesome book, it really helped me. I used to get frequent tension headaches, due to RSI and whiplash, but now I can nip them in the bud with some quick neck trigger point work. Highly recommended.

[Jennifer]

I too have read this book and found it very helpful. I have graduated from the tennis ball under me on the floor to a golf ball - gets under the shoulder blade better! (Although putting the tennis balls in the freezer is a great way to ice an area...)

I am just about to order a product similar to the TheraCane, called the PressurePointer. It has a hand and a foot handle to free your upper body mucles from tensing as you apply pressure.
Check it out at pressurepointer.com

Will let you know how it works!

[Ajlouny]

Great recommendation. Will be looking into it for sure.