massage and bodywork professionals

a community of practitioners

A typical experience

I had a new client the other day for an 80 minute massage. I asked him if there is anything that he wanted me to know.  He told me that he suffers from a herniated disc that he has had for a few years. He has constant low back and right hip pain that at times radiates down the back of his leg to his knee. He told me that he has had two injections in his low back and has to stay on anit- inflamtory medication.  Anything to avoid surgery. The pain is always there. I asked him if he ever saw a chiropractor for his pain.  He said yes.  But the adjustments hurt his hip so bad that he could not continiue.  So here is a guy that thinks he is on the verge of surgery. I knew that there was a very strong probubllity that was not the case. The vast majority of pain people experience is nocioceptive pain( soft tissue- muscle, tendon, ligament, facia).  MDs and Chiropractors see pain as neuropathic pain( nerve pain).  With that asumption they give the wrong treatments and therapies.  Now there is no denying that at times injections and surgery is needed. Not denying that.   But most of the time - NOT.  70% to 85% of all pain comes directly from trigger points.  Anyway I showed my client a testimonial from a client that I was able to help out of a very painful condition that she had delt with for a couple of years. I showed him that testimonial because all pain has a psychological eliment too it. I wanted him to start thinking maybe he is not on the edge of surgery.  I palpated his entire back upper torso, both hips, and right leg. I found a very painful spot on his right L5 erectors.  Another very painful spot on his right greater trochantor.  A painful spot in the middle part of his lower right hamstrings.  And also a tender spot on the right spinous of L3.  I knew that if Iwas able to eliminate all those painful palaptory spots that I would most likely eliminate his pain problem.  Because a healthy body had no painful spots even with deep massage.  Ive been hunting and eliminateing trigger points for thirty years now.  He walked out of the massage room pain free. He was pain free for the first time in years. All those other professional people misdiagnosed him because they assume neuropathic pain over nocioceptive pain.  I assume the other way around.  I'm a Massage Therapist.  

Views: 33691

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 20, 2015 at 12:48pm
Had a new client the other day that came in complaining of left shoulder pain. She brought her right hand accross her chest to touch the front of her left shoulder as she began describing her pain. She said its on and off, and often wakes her up at night with radiating pain down the front and back of her chest and arm. I interupted her in mid sentance and explained to her that all I need to know is that her shoulder hurts. I then asked her how long has it been hurting. She said months. I let her read a testimonial about someone that I was able to help with a shoulder problem. Then let her view a 50 second clip of me doing my Acupressure/TP work. She said she wanted out of pain instead of a good spa massage. I palpated from her hips up to the top of her head, front, back, and sides of her body. I found a few very mild tender points. Some of them in the right place for shoulder pain. Like a couple in the Rhomboids, upper paraspinals, lateral left neck, upper trap, Pectoralis, and so on. I palpated her entire left arm and found no tender points. But the tender points that I did find in the rest of her body were so mild. I just could not see them waking her up at night and locking her whole shoulder and arm in pain? And there were no Trigger points anywhere in her arm. She told me that she felt pretty good today, but thats how it is.. Feels ok one day, then massive pain the next. But I hunted and did find some tender points, and I guessed that if they flared up they could maybe cause a lot of pain? But I still felt that I did not find a bad enough TP to really justify her pain? Near the end of the sessions she was on her back as I was working her head and scalp. I realized that I did not palpate her SCMs.. Each had a mild tender spot. Again TPs in the right places, but not very painful.. just mildly so? After releasing the SCMs I went back to her scalp massage ( very relaxing ). After a minute she opened her eyes and told me that she feels some discomfort in the lateral front of her neck on the left side. I palpated that area and BINGO ! A BIG BAD SCALENE TP. In my experience SCALENE TPs are rare. I had forgot to palpate the front of her neck ( not counting the SCMs ) and had missed a very sore Latent Scalene TP. The pain pattern from that TP radiates in the shoulder and down the arm. I will attach a picture of the pain pattern. I was able to deactivate that Tender Point quite quickly. Its a good thing she commented, because I would have missed it. I will be sure to check the Scalenes with every client now. But she was a happy camper when she left the spa.. So all is well that ends well.
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on May 20, 2015 at 3:07pm

Gordon, scalenes in this part of the world cause a lot of hand pain.  The brachial plexus on its way into the arm runs behind the three scalenes before they dip beneath the clavicle and pec minor.  The scalenes lift the first and second rib during inhalation.  Maybe it is an area thing-- AK air is a whole lot cleaner than that of people who must live and breathe the more humid, dirtier air in the Deep South, so maybe our scalenes are overworked.   And, besides, as TV shows tell us, you Alaskans are a hardy people

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 20, 2015 at 5:23pm

Well? I've just never come across very many Scalene TPs? I remember a long time ago I had a client with Scalene TPs, but I was unable to help him. I could help him now though. But that was then and this is now.
Gary W Addis, LMT said:

Gordon, scalenes in this part of the world cause a lot of hand pain.  The brachial plexus on its way into the arm runs behind the three scalenes before they dip beneath the clavicle and pec minor.  The scalenes lift the first and second rib during inhalation.  Maybe it is an area thing-- AK air is a whole lot cleaner than that of people who must live and breathe the more humid, dirtier air in the Deep South, so maybe our scalenes are overworked.   And, besides, as TV shows tell us, you Alaskans are a hardy people

Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on May 20, 2015 at 6:41pm

any time someone reports hand pain, I always suspect scalenes to be at fault.  Nerves and veins vulnerable in lateral neck, though. 

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 21, 2015 at 12:35pm

For hand pain, Ive always found it more common to find TPs in the Extensors, the hand it self, or the flexors. And I utilized the GB meridian to turn off that TP.
Gary W Addis, LMT said:

any time someone reports hand pain, I always suspect scalenes to be at fault.  Nerves and veins vulnerable in lateral neck, though. 

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 21, 2015 at 12:49pm

This guy came in for his 3rd session the other day. He was symptomatic free. The bottom of his right foot didnt hurt anymore, his abdominal area didnt hurt, and no headache in three days. However on palpation both the abdominal and foot were still sore. So even though he was none symptomatic, the TPs were still there in their dorment form, or Latent. And he still had one tender spot on his neck on palpation. I deactivated the TPs again. He was still ticklish, had to calm that down again.. But over all Great improvement. No longer symptomatic. He was most freaked out about his foot not hurting.. Its been hurting for 20 years. All the people he went to for his foot pain did not know it was a TP. All the orthotics and therapies he went through were useless. Anyway, Im just comenting on him because it was a 20 year pain. TPs can last a very long time. Truth Remains Hidden.
Gordon J. Wallis said:
Gosh I had an interesting day the other day. One client, that suffers headaches almost every day came in for a massage. His headache is one sided, the left side. I found two lateral tender ponts on his left neck, and another tender point in his left temple. Because he gets headaches almost every day I wanted to check his abdominal area for tender points. They often show up because of internal organ stress. And often there is a tender spot to the lower right of the belly button ( ILIOCECAL VALVE ) with chronic headache people. And in his case there was.. And he knew about it.. He said he has had all kinds of tests and scans for his painful lower right abdominal area. The pain remains unknown. The Docs want him to go to the Mayo Clinic to see if they can find out the cause of his abdominal pain.. Well guess what.. He left the spa without that Abdominal pain. It was a trigger point. He also had two very ticklish spots on each side of his spine at around T12, L1 on his Para Spinals. I mean when I touched those ereas his body would involuntarily flinch away from my touch.. His whole body would lock up and move almost violently. Two areas of hypersensitivity.. Its good to deactivate that hypersensitivity. Calm that nervouse system down.. And I was able to do that. He was not ticklish on those spots when he left the spa. And this was cool.. He had a painful spot on the bottom of his right foot that he has had for twenty years. He was more then surprised when it vanished... It was way cool to work on him. All those distinct painful points vanished along with the tickle spots. Ticklishnes and pain follow the same neural pathways by the way.. Anyway, that guy suffered needlessly for years because he had trigger points. Now will all those spots come back? I don't know. I hope to find out though... But the fact that they all vanished at least for now, is clinically significant. And his pain problems should soon be over. Anyway, that kind of stuff makes my day.
Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 21, 2015 at 12:53pm

Woops, I said GB meridian.. I ment to say LI meridian.
Gordon J. Wallis said:

For hand pain, Ive always found it more common to find TPs in the Extensors, the hand it self, or the flexors. And I utilized the GB meridian to turn off that TP.
Gary W Addis, LMT said:

any time someone reports hand pain, I always suspect scalenes to be at fault.  Nerves and veins vulnerable in lateral neck, though. 

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 23, 2015 at 11:51am

The twenty years of foot pain is complely gone now. His foot is no long tender even under firm palpation. His tickles are 3/4 gone, his abdominal pain is no longer symptomatic, but still tender on palpation, and still no headache. He is very happy about his foot.. He lives out of state and I wont be able to see him any more. That was cool though. None of the professionals that he went to see for his problems ever mentioned the word Trigger Point.
Gordon J. Wallis said:

This guy came in for his 3rd session the other day. He was symptomatic free. The bottom of his right foot didnt hurt anymore, his abdominal area didnt hurt, and no headache in three days. However on palpation both the abdominal and foot were still sore. So even though he was none symptomatic, the TPs were still there in their dorment form, or Latent. And he still had one tender spot on his neck on palpation. I deactivated the TPs again. He was still ticklish, had to calm that down again.. But over all Great improvement. No longer symptomatic. He was most freaked out about his foot not hurting.. Its been hurting for 20 years. All the people he went to for his foot pain did not know it was a TP. All the orthotics and therapies he went through were useless. Anyway, Im just comenting on him because it was a 20 year pain. TPs can last a very long time. Truth Remains Hidden.
Gordon J. Wallis said:
Gosh I had an interesting day the other day. One client, that suffers headaches almost every day came in for a massage. His headache is one sided, the left side. I found two lateral tender ponts on his left neck, and another tender point in his left temple. Because he gets headaches almost every day I wanted to check his abdominal area for tender points. They often show up because of internal organ stress. And often there is a tender spot to the lower right of the belly button ( ILIOCECAL VALVE ) with chronic headache people. And in his case there was.. And he knew about it.. He said he has had all kinds of tests and scans for his painful lower right abdominal area. The pain remains unknown. The Docs want him to go to the Mayo Clinic to see if they can find out the cause of his abdominal pain.. Well guess what.. He left the spa without that Abdominal pain. It was a trigger point. He also had two very ticklish spots on each side of his spine at around T12, L1 on his Para Spinals. I mean when I touched those ereas his body would involuntarily flinch away from my touch.. His whole body would lock up and move almost violently. Two areas of hypersensitivity.. Its good to deactivate that hypersensitivity. Calm that nervouse system down.. And I was able to do that. He was not ticklish on those spots when he left the spa. And this was cool.. He had a painful spot on the bottom of his right foot that he has had for twenty years. He was more then surprised when it vanished... It was way cool to work on him. All those distinct painful points vanished along with the tickle spots. Ticklishnes and pain follow the same neural pathways by the way.. Anyway, that guy suffered needlessly for years because he had trigger points. Now will all those spots come back? I don't know. I hope to find out though... But the fact that they all vanished at least for now, is clinically significant. And his pain problems should soon be over. Anyway, that kind of stuff makes my day.
Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 24, 2015 at 1:22pm
Its always a TP day. One client came in with pain from her knee down, mostly in her calf in one leg. She has had the pain for six months. She had been though Physical Therapy, and even saw an Exercise Physiologist. She said they helped her, but she is still dealing with this calf pain. Basically you can't exercise or stretch your way out of most TP pain. I palpated eight very tender TPs from her lower knee front back and sides down to the bottom of her foot. No wonder her lower leg hurt. Well they all deactivated. She was amazed at how good her calf felt after the session. It will take several sessions to completely eliminate her problem if all goes as usual. And I suspect it will. But here is what gets me, and why I write in here. She went to very smart educated health care professionals. And those people did not know anything about Trigger Points. Reality is not being taught to anybody. Including Massage Therapists. And when they do teach Trigger Point work. They make it way way over complicated. Might talk some about that later? " WHAT IS SIMPLE, IS SIMPLY SEEN. AND WHAT IS SIMPLE IS RARELY UNDERSTOOD."
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by calvin burnes on May 25, 2015 at 1:59pm

Hi gordon,

Just wanted to let you know i am watching your posts with great interest.  there is a lot of material here, and i am a slow reader.  so it will probably take me a few weeks to get through it all.  but you definitely have my attention here.  i am a believer in the power of simplicity.  and your approach to pain seems really simple and effective.  so i have pulled out my trigger point books and i am rereading them.  and reading your inspirational posts.  i already have a few questions but i want to read through all your posts first before asking them.   so you will likely hear from me again when i am done reading all the posts.  thanks for your generous sharing.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 25, 2015 at 2:01pm

Ok, the attachments are important because they back up what I say.
calvin burnes said:

Hi gordon,

Just wanted to let you know i am watching your posts with great interest.  there is a lot of material here, and i am a slow reader.  so it will probably take me a few weeks to get through it all.  but you definitely have my attention here.  i am a believer in the power of simplicity.  and your approach to pain seems really simple and effective.  so i have pulled out my trigger point books and i am rereading them.  and reading your inspirational posts.  i already have a few questions but i want to read through all your posts first before asking them.   so you will likely hear from me again when i am done reading all the posts.  thanks for your generous sharing.

Permalink Reply by calvin burnes on May 25, 2015 at 3:34pm

yup, i am reading all the attachments and i indeed find them useful.  thanks.  

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

© 2024   Created by ABMP.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

Sign in to chat!