What I don't get about Trigger Point Therapy

[PRETTY GREEN EYES]

hmmm....well, when I use the terminology "trigger point", I don't say the word "therapy" after it. HOWEVER, I do let the client know that I will be using some trigger point techniques on them if they have difficult knots that should be released. Basically, it's dissolving the kinks in the muscle fibers that have built up over time through stationary deep tissue pressure (using either my thumbs or forearms or knuckles or whatever is appopriate for the area I'm trying to release). I can sort of see why some would refer to it as therapy though...one that is incorporated into their overall therapy session.Be well,Jen

 

[blinky42]

One of the teachers at my school, a person I respect greatly, practices "Neuromuscular Technique". While it is not exclusively trigger point work, there is a lot of very specific attention paid to trigger points and the anatomy underlying them. This person is as well-versed in anatomy and muscle pathology as anyone I have met, and can find trouble spots with a couple of comments from the client and about 5 seconds of palpation. I went to her for a shoulder issue that had been bothering me for a couple of years. After one treatment, I have been relatively pain free for about three months. It isn't a magic bullet; I spend a fair amount of time attending to posture and stretching; but it seems pretty effective to me.I firmly believe that a particular type of approach, dealing with trigger points and the causes behind them, can be looked at as a therapy unto itself. It is much more specifically "treatment" oriented (can I use that word?   ) than general muscular therapy, imho, and deserves a place in the field of bodywork.Being a relative newbie to the body work world, I like to mix some of the techniques I have learned from this person in with my regular massage treatments, always considering the level of tolerance for pain the person on the table has. I have considered following up my basic schooling with a more extensive study of NMT. Seems to me a substantial number of pain-related issues that are now treated with pain killers and surgery could potentially be mitigated with NMT, avoiding repercussions of the treatment further on in the client's life.

 

[Eris]

Sorry about that, wanted to revise the ogigional thread so as not to accidentally offend anyone with any language that might be considered abrasive.  What I was getting at was: The great work done by Dr.s Simmons and Trevell provides us with a great map of the trigger points in their very predictable locations throughout the body, and clear diagrams of the areas where they refer.  These maps are very useful for those who apply their partucular techniques to the trigger points, but, treating the trigger points is not in and of itself the modality used.  So, when I hear someone say "I do trigger point therapy.", I'm left wondering by what means they do so.

 

[minnie]

Ok, I'm with you there. I too have a very eclectic approach to bodywork. What I'm getting at is, I sometimes see people list "trigger point therapy" as a modality they use. I've always recognized trigger points as thing which are to be treated, and not as the treatment.  There's a total hack practicing in Las Vegas who tries to represent Body Cousions as a modality.  Most of us recognize Body Cousions as a great system for boulstering a client during treatment but not as a treatment itself.   I guess the question is: What is it that stands alone as "trigger point therapy"?

 

[Citizen of the Cosmos]

I think it is the folks that study under Bonnie Prudden and only use her techniques for the entire session.  I, like many others here, don't do just one modality.  I have been to Tucson for a class in Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy.  fun stuff.  mick

 

[Amerie]

I too use multiple modalities in one session. Although, if I am doing a session of trigger point, I will mostly be doing trigger point work.  So I do view it as a modality all it's own. For example, someone with a whiplash injury, trigger points can be found all over the place.  I can take up an entire session just working on releasing the trigger points and stretching out the areas worked.As compared to a client that might have mild neck pain with only one or two trigger points that are easily released.  With this session the trigger point work is just adding in as needed.    

 

[poo.]

Thanks for all the thought y'all put into your answers to that one, I really appreciate it. Part of the point of asking it like that was in part to honestly learn wethor or not I'd actually missed anentire modality that would be called " trigger point therapy". As a NMT, I address TP's extensively, They are not the sole focus neuromuscular tharapy, but very important to it. And as I suspected, your answers reflected that you adress TP's while using a particular technique or modality. No one came out and said "Trigger Point Therapy is my primary method of practice and it is blah..blah... clear definition.     And here's what I was trying to give rise to.  I often see "Trigger Point" listed among sutsh things as deep tissue, shiatsu, myofascial, and sutch on the menue boards in several clinics, on business cards and brochures.  And sometimes, especially in clinics,( and especially discount rate clinics who use the newbies fresh out of school) the therapist expected to do the work doesn't really have the tool in his/her tool box. May not be able to define what a TP is or what types or blah...blah...etc.  We know what they are and discuss them with our clients.  Experienced clients are farmilliar with the term Trigger Point.  Friends of experienced recipients haveheard the term TP.  Sometimes when talking to someone who is new to, or only just interested in recieving massage hear's the term they'll say "Oh yeh, I've heard of that.".  The point is, that "trigger point" has become kind of a buzz-word, and is sometimes being used inapropriately as a marketing hook.    My question is are we just o.k. with that? Is it ok that someone might believe that the massage they are paying for includes "Trigger Point" even though the therapist is only vaguely familliar with the concept?  It happens all the time, what can we do?  

 

[Nikolai]

I took NMT for several weeks as continuing ed at my MT school.  Several years prior they included some NMT in their core Western Track course.I just finished watching the DVD that came with my Biofreeze/Prossage samples and it had "Massage with the Masters" on it.  They were all names that we know and hope to(I do at least) train with.Almost all of them had at one point held static pressure for 8-10 seconds on a TP.I think that everyone is learning a bit about it even if not formally.  TP's aren't a great mystery.  The finer ability to know all of their referrals different ways to work them I think is all a "TP" class/certification will get you.For example.  I just missed part I of Whitney Lowes Ortho massage.  I do intend on going to them someday...now if I only go to I, and II but not three yet can I not utilize what I have learned?...nope....I likely will not do ORtho massage exclusively.....I will incorporate it into a session as I do onw with other techiniques.Robyn

 

[Jim S]

All bodyworkers treat trigger points - whether they know it or not. Some only use swedish, others shiatsu, others reflexology....deep tissue, pin & stretch, tuning forks, shaking rattles, chi gong... you name it.People recieve bodywork for pain, or for relaxation, or both.The primary muscular source of pain = trigger points. Toss in scar tissue/bad fascia, and so-called muscle spasms and you have covered nearly all the reasons related to pain that bring clients to us.Usually we find all three (trigger points, ugly fascia and spasms) together in their body and the client says that's IT.In essence - we treat IT. Whatever it is (the itis?) And it is dense, hard, and painful. IT does not feel soft and juicy.Use any term for IT you want to use. Call your technique whatever you want (NMT, Trigger point therpy, active release techniques, orthopedic massage, St. John method of NMT, european method...)What difference does it make?Took my first massage course in 1985 (two weekends of swedish - do you believe that). Nine years later an NMT teacher (One of the first co-teachers with St. John) worked on my neck and shoulders for 1 1/2 hours.  After I thought: Nice session, but what's the big deal - This NMT is really no different than what I had started doing on people shortly after those two swedish weekends.The point of this is not to say that NMT classes aren't valuable - they are. Nor that I am someone special - that is certainly not the case. It's simply that humans have been working on trigger points long before the word trigger point existed. Long before formal education existed. Again what's the big deal concerning semantics?

 

[Pompal 09.]

]"Took my first massage course in 1985 (two weekends of swedish - do you believe that). Nine years later an NMT teacher (One of the first co-teachers with St. John) worked on my neck and shoulders for 1 1/2 hours.  After I thought: Nice session, but what's the big deal - This NMT is really no different than what I had started doing on people shortly after those two swedish weekends."This just struck me as a really odd statement. If you could not tell a differnce between swedish and this guys opinion of NMT, I dont think he was doing it right or even at all. I am a certified NMT and you can most DEFINATELY tell a difference between that and my swedish. Also, my best friend went to a massage school here where they spend 6 months just on NMT! I wish I had had an opportunity like that. My program was only 3 months of NMT, but still really grateful for that kind of training. Its so hard to find a therapist to tradr with that can get my knots out effectively. They always stop before its gone :'(