trigger points

[migangelo]

we all get knots in our legs and throughout our bodies. i know i have one in my back all the time and of course i know that i get them in my thighs. especially in my left leg because my big black pipe lets me know they are there whenever i use it.

in the fall jndeleon gave me a book on taking care of your trigger points through self massage. i'm sorry that i don't have the book on hand to give the title. i doubt there are many books on trigger point therapy but when i do see it tomorrow hopefully i will remember to add the name of it to this post.

so the book sat on my table until about two weeks ago. spring break was the first chance i had to read it. i was taking organic chemistry in the fall and winter, or should i say it was taking me. i had no chance to read it until spring break.

let me tell you it was incredible. i read through the first 3 chapters to get an idea about the book and how to apply the techniques. once i did that i went to the specific sections that i needed.

Planter Fasciitis is caused by trigger points in your calf! did you know that? if you did then why did you keep that to yourself?

you know how your IT band kills you when you roll on foam or your pipe? you know that can be from at least 6 trigger points in you thighs and two in your buttocks?

i can't recommend this book enough. "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Clair Davies. there, i found the book and it's on Amazon. do yourself a huge favor and get it.

it talks about how the trigger points cause referred pain. you have a knot in one spot and feel the pain elsewhere. get it, it is so worth it.

 

[NickW]

Planter Fasciitis is caused by trigger points in your calf! did you know that? if you did then why did you keep that to yourself?

Yes, Jen talks about it on here anytime someone talks about these problems, where have you been Mike? You obviously haven't read any of the PF threads on here...

 

[dutchie53]

Isn't accupuncture a form of trigger point therapy? I found that probably has helped me more than any other form of therapy.

 

[SaraLord]

Thanks Mike! I ordered the book before reading the replies to your original post. I've been seeing an acupuncturist lately and he says the same thing about trigger points. Dutchie, I believe that acupuncture and trigger points are related and target the same underlying problem.

 

[migangelo]

i don't believe so. i've had acupuncture done and i didn't get the same affects from the trigger point therapy. i did, i believe, finally relieve the TP's in my medial calf only to have one show up today on my lateral calf.

Nick, i don't have internet at home anymore. i can't read through all the posts like i used to. surprisingly i've still found other ways to avoid my homework.

 

[NickW]

Lol! That's so funny Mike! I have the hardest time to sit down and study too. I guess it would help if I was studying something that I actually wanted to do with my life.

 

[jldeleon]

Dudes - there is a type of therapy called "dry needling" where the doctor will put a needle right into the center of the trigger point -which releases it immediately. It's not acupuncture though -because acupuncture is used to facilitate the movement of energy around the body and to ensure there are not any energy blockages. AcuPRESSURE however, is a form of trigger point therapy. Basically you can use steady pressure to relieve a trigger point, or you can use a pivoting motion right on the trigger point with your thumb/trigger point cane/kitchen utensil, etc. on the trigger point. Shaking it sometimes works as well. Oh, and Mike, two weeks? I think you confused that with two MONTHS.

 

[zapmamak]

I LOVE that book and use it all the time!

 

[jldeleon]

It takes time and patience to learn how to effectively locate, and effectively work out trigger points. I have neither, but I did it anyway with regard to this book. And I too think it is one of the most incredible tools I have ever discovered for working out my pain, myself. It has saved me from countless trips to massage therapists and my prolotherapists (who also do "dry-needling"). The great thing about trigger point massage, is that if you do it regularly, "most" of your "hot spots" (places where you usually have reoccuring trigger points) will go away. Not all of them will, but most. I still have like 2 or 3 spots that I have to relieve pretty much every day. But that's down from like 10-15 spots a couple years ago! With enough practice, I can now, more-or-less, find trigger points by using symmetrical comparison -where I run my hands down the corresponding muscles on both sides of the body in order to feel inconsistencies (trigger points). I guess my point is, it's just like anything, you get out of it what you put into it. Most people have imbalances that they will have to work with the rest of their lives. Trigger point therapy, in my opinion, is the best tool for pain relief and rebalancing imbalances, that I have discovered so far.

 

[NickW]

My biggest problem Jen, is knowing when I've found a trigger point. I can watch a video all day long or read about it all day long but unless I'm physically shown how to tell if I've found one then I just kind of feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I'm a hands on learner, which makes school very difficult for me because mostly it's book learning and I don't learn that way at all. I'll come out with a degree I know nothing about... Anyhow, hopefully I can figure it out someday so I know I am doing things right.

 

[jldeleon]

My biggest problem Jen, is knowing when I've found a trigger point. I can watch a video all day long or read about it all day long but unless I'm physically shown how to tell if I've found one then I just kind of feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I'm a hands on learner, which makes school very difficult for me because mostly it's book learning and I don't learn that way at all. I'll come out with a degree I know nothing about... Anyhow, hopefully I can figure it out someday so I know I am doing things right.

This is true, I am very much a hands-on learner too, as I am sure most people are. One of these days...sigh...we (like you and Mike and me and Dan and whoever else wants to join in) should have a "learn how to find and kill off your trigger points party" -we could even drink beer and paint each other's toenails. Lol. Mike LOVES pain so he could the main guinea pig. Finding the on other people is good practice for finding them on yourself. And I know you secretly want to massage another guys leg. You sound a bit muscle-bound (my husband is like that too) -which is genetically based. That makes finding trigger points more difficult, but not impossible. To top it off, certain areas of the body -like the calves- are just naturally harder to find trigger points in. But not impossible.

 

[NickW]

Not sure what you mean muscle bound? I'm not exactly a heavy weight lifter anymore... My back effectively eliminated that for me.

 

[jldeleon]

Not sure what you mean muscle bound? I'm not exactly a heavy weight lifter anymore... My back effectively eliminated that for me.

It means your muscles hold their strength longer than the average person and also build up with less effort than the average person. That's a genetic thing. So like running makes your calves tight fairly easily, and stay tight longer, whereas it would take a lot more for the average person to get to that point.

 

[NickW]

My calves actually very rarely ever feel tight. In fact it's next to never when they feel that way. Maybe they are and I just don't notice it. I have had drs tell me I have a very high threshold for pain, which I find odd because I can't stand deep tissue massages cause they hurt so bad. Anyhow these drs told me with the problems I had with my back that the normal person would not have been up and walking like I was and only rating the pain as a 6 on a scale of 1-10. I figured if I could be up and moving it wasn't a 10 and if I was walking it surely couldn't be even an 8. Anyhow, or maybe I'm just a dork and don't know what tightness is because I'm always tight?

 

[jldeleon]

Nick, go to bed. Lol. So how did you feel after the Shamrock race anyway?

 

[NickW]

Well, Monday was my first run in 3 weeks if you can call it that. I ran a quarter of a mile Monday, Tues, Wednesday and today I am taking off because the heel is a little tender.