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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.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantar_fasciitis
That's what they say about Plantar fasciitis. It sounds pretty complicate when you read that. And I'm sure it can be. But most of the time it's just trigger points. Is there any mention of trigger points in the above article? - Attachments:
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https://www.mrtherapy.com/about-us/
This guy has a simple way of fixing a lot of repetitive stress injuries. He doesn't mention trigger points. But his techniques shreds em. I would call it a hard style of massage. Kind of like Karate, as apposed to what I do now, which is like Aikido. But what he does works. And I still use his techniques often times when working on clients suffering from carpal tunnel. it's good stuff. The interesting thing is. If you took his course. You would know more about helping people with plantar fasciitis then the medical docs that have been working on my client for two years.
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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Good work once again, Gordon! As always, I appreciate the attachments you do.
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Another case of false diagnosis. Just the other day a client came in for a massage just to relax. She was stressed out do to a family tragedy. Of course we all know massage is very good for that kind of thing. However during the brief interview before the massage, she let it be known that she has chronic sciatica along with low back pain. She has been dealing with that for years. The usual pinched nerve and all that stuff. The pain goes from her low back all the way down into the hip, down the back of her right leg to the knee, and sometimes below into the calf. I told her that I certainly understand her need to relax, but I also wanted her to know that there was a very good chance (85%), that I could get rid of that sciatic low back pain for her. She looked at me because she could tell that I was serious. Then I explained to her about trigger points. Let her watch a video of me working. I told he that I would know pretty quickly if I could be clinically effective for her pain or not. And that it would take only a few minutes to find out. Now she has been to medical docs and others without relief. A true sign that her problem is trigger points. Sense those other professions seem to know next to nothing when it comes to trigger points or Myofascial pain. Anyway as suspected, she had what I call, FAKE SCIATICA. I will attach all the trigger points that caused her pain. Right side involvement. I can only post one attachment at a time...so here we go.
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Another one.
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Yet another.
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Again another
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Last one. The misdiagnosis of pain, is what Travell feared. She was so right.
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Again, I want to point out, I'm not the only one saying that other professions don't really understand Myofascial pain.
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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on
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what website are those from?
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It's an app. In the attachment is a picture of it from the iPhone App Store. As a side note. Here is a link that might be of interest for therapists to check out. http://www6.miami.edu/touch-research/
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A follow up. I saw her a couple days ago. She is totally trigger point as well as pain free. She is happy and vibrent. She says she is so happy and is trying to talk her boyfriend into seeing for his back ache. But anyway here is the deal. The medical doc wants her to take medications for her headache, even though she no longer has headaches, or go to this chiropractor. I told her that she does not have too. She told me that the medical doc says she has too. I asked her if she told her doctor that she was feeling fine. No headaches and no more neck pain. She said she did. I told her of my concern that they would make her worse. With needless neck adjustments and deep tissue massage done by therapists that think they find knots. Then she said, if they do. I will just come back to you.. Sigh....She is just too young to know her power. And those people are just pressuring her so they can get that auto insurance money. Any ethical doctor would examin that young lady and see that she is perfectly fine. Unbelievable. Oh well. And if people don't think this kind of thing happens.. It does.. One of my good friends is an investigator for Medicare fraud. He works for the state. It happens.
Gordon J. Wallis said:
I find this so upsetting. Today I saw the young lady with the two years of neck pain. Well guess what. She is totally symptomatic free. No more headaches and she has full range of motion in her neck without pain. All she had was a couple trigger points between her shoulders, and one on her right side lateral spinous at T12. All the rest are gone. She is totally fine. And talk about a totally different person. She was happy, smiling, and vibrant. She said she is so amazed and happy. But that doesn't mean anything. Because here is the deal. And I have seen this so many times over the last 30 years. I can no longer be quiet about it. She has been under Medical doctor care for two years. She goes back to this guy and tells him that she saw me, and her headaches are gone and no longer has any neck pain. And she feels fine. He told her well, that's not part of the treatment plan, and that she has had headaches and neck pain for two years. So she needs to stick with the treatment plan, take these medications or see this chiroprator. This young lady is 22 years old and easily influenced by this incompetent guy and some scamming chiropractor. She says she doesn't know what to do about it. You can run her through whatever orthopedic exam you want.. She is a totally healthy young lady. But I have, according to these guys, no more political power then a hot pack in the coner of some treatment room.. The truth is they have totally screwed her over for two years and want to continiue. I'm 62 years old, been doing this for over 30 years, and I'm tired of this kind of Cr_P( injustice ). I'm going to do something about it. I don't believe they can force her to see a specific chiropractor. I think I know an ethical one that would examin her and see that she is a perfectly healthy young lady. And does not need any further medical care, except for maybe a follow vist just to make sure. It was trigger points, and now she doesn't have em.. I'm going to see her in a couple of days again. I'm only charging her $25 for a fifteen minute session by the way. These other guys are going to be charging her insurance $300 a session for useless therapy she does not need, and will probubly cause more pain with meds and unnecessary adjustments. They have already perpetuated her pain for two years.. Give me a break. I don't care how much alphabet they have in front or in back of their names. They are doing wrong. It's all over the news about health care costs. Well here is a perfect example of why. Like I said. It's either incompetence or criminal(greed). Hopefully I can get her to see this ethical chiropractor or medical people before they make her worse again. Why does this kind of stuff happen? I'm almost on the conspiracy theory thing? It's almost like the medical system, both allopathic as well as holistic, is not really set up to heal anyone. It's just there to make money. It's sickening.
Gordon J. Wallis said:Even though massage therapists aren't trained or suppose to diagnose. I had two new clients recently that were obviously misdiagnosed. I find it upsetting. I'm not going to get into too much detail like I have in some of my other posts.. Cause it's almost like a broken record. . I guess I'm suppose to feel good, because I actually did help them both dramatically.. But I'm feeling more angery because of the miscare they both recieved over the last two years. It's rediculus. No need for them to be hurting for two years. Whoever they went to, did not know what they were doing. I can't figure out any other reason? Well I can, but then that would even be worse. One was told she had sciatica. A pinched nerve from her low back that radiated pain down her lateral left leg, sometimes her posterior left leg. That's what she was told and treated for. Well her low back was fine. No pain even under deep pressure. However she had several jump response trigger points in her left Glutes and lateral leg muscles, as well as one in her left inner thigh. All the pain patterns from those trigger points send pain down the leg and into the lower back. Whatever therapy she had in the past obviously never addressed those trigger points. I can only imagine the kind of therapy she was receiving ? Anyway her sciatica was gone after her massage... She is going to come back for some follow ups.. I'm sure she will need a few. After all, it's been two years. But her problem is over. The other client. A young women that was in an auto accident two years ago. She was noticibly afraid and apprehensive about her massage. She has had neck pain for the last two years sense her accident. When she turned her head to the left it hurt. I could tell it was having an effect on her emotionally. She looked stressed There was a quiet depressed sense about her. Like she had given up or something. Someone referred her to me. Not a medical person. She left way better and smiling. It was cool. She could turn her head without pain. It was trigger points in her upper traps and levator scrap. One in her lower neck. A couple rhomboid trigger points each side. And quite a few lateral spinous pain points on the right side in her T spine. They all deactivated, and we were finished in 25 minutes. She is coming in for maybe three more short follow ups, and her problem will be over. Oh, I remember she had one pain point on her right PSIS. Now when I say both those clients will be better. I'ts only and educated guess based on my experience. But if you come in and you can't turn your head to the left without pain( for two years ), and you walk out being able to turn your head to the left with no pain. That's clinically significant. That means you have ruled out any pathology( disease, pinched nerve), or abstruction( bone in the way ). It's trigger points that are in the way. If I fail. That means I can't make those trigger points stay away. And I doubt that's going to happen. For two years with both of these clients.. Nobody thought TRIGGER POINTS. I can only post one attachment. But it makes my point.
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