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Misdiagnosis
As a massage therapist, I’ve heard the words Pinched Nerve a lot. Of course there are people that do have pinched nerves, but they are rare compared to what’s usually the culprit, Trigger Points. There are a handful of trigger points that mimic radiating nerve pain very good. There is a lot of misdiagnosis as a result. And when trigger points are misdiagnosed, the patient can suffer. Sometimes to the point of unnecessary surgery.
Here is a short list of trigger points that often lead to a misdiagnosis that you want to be aware of. There are more, but these are the ones I see the most, with the exception of the Scalenes. I really have not seen it that much compared to the others. But check out their pain patterns in the attachments below. They are very easy to find. Hmm, I can only attach three. I will leave out the Scalene, but be aware of it, it’s a real sneaky one.
Scalenes, Vastus Lateralis, Gluteus Minimus, and infraspinatus.
Here is a short list of trigger points that often lead to a misdiagnosis that you want to be aware of. There are more, but these are the ones I see the most, with the exception of the Scalenes. I really have not seen it that much compared to the others. But check out their pain patterns in the attachments below. They are very easy to find. Hmm, I can only attach three. I will leave out the Scalene, but be aware of it, it’s a real sneaky one.
Scalenes, Vastus Lateralis, Gluteus Minimus, and infraspinatus.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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I’ve said all this before in my thread Typical Experience, but it’s such a long thread I’m sure many of you have not read it. But I think it’s important enough for me to repeat this again for the new people in the field to know and think about. Because knowing this can change your client/patients lives.
A few years ago a new client came into the spa on a gift certificate for a one hour massage. When I asked her if she had any aches or pains she told me that she had a pinched nerve do to surgery in her right leg. She had cancer, and they did a complete hysterectomy on her. It saved her life, ever sense the surgery she had this constant pain that radiated down the front of her right leg. She went back to the surgeons about it, and they told her that they accidentally injured a nerve during the surgery and that she needs another surgery to correct it. In the mean time, she is in the spa telling me this. In about 20 seconds her nerve pain was gone. That’s because it wasn’t nerve pain. It was a trigger point in one of the upper thigh extensor muscles. Not sure which one, but several will radiate pain up and down the leg. I will post one of them in the attachments below.
Onnce her nerve pain disappeared, she asked if I could help her rotator cuff problem. She has been in physical therapy regularly for over a year and it’s not better. Even though she is doing all the exercises religiously between appointments. I checked her shoulder out. Goodness, she had trigger points in all the right places. I told her that the exercises are only exasperating and perpetuating her problem. And that if she wants to get well she needs to stop doing those exercises and see me for a few sessions and get ride of those trigger points. A trigger point is damaged muscle tissue. An injured muscle. It’s just like exercising your mouth if you have a cracked lip. It ain’t gonna make that lip heal any time soon. Anyway, she stoped the exercises, saw me a few times, and her rotator cuff problem of over a year was over. I will attach her testimonial. Now I’m not posting it to say how great I am. Any good therapist, doing any number of modalities could have helped her. Especially the pinched nerve thing. Goodness, they were going to do surgery! But if you, as a therapist, have limited beliefs as to the capabilities of your license. You have given a relaxation massage , under the illusion that her problems were beyond the scope of massage therapy. She would have been happy , and left the spa feeling relaxed and pampered. But probably get unnecessary hip surgery down the road, and I would bet shoulder surgery shortly after.....So. It’s good to be aware of things. - Attachments:
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Here is some interesting trigger point info for those interested.
http://www.aoasm.org/default/assets/File/OMED2016/Gerwin_TriggerPoi...
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