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I always say
I often say in here , That once any underlying pathology is ruled out. Its soft tissue work all the way. But thats not always true. I had an elderly women in for a massage the other day.. In her late 70s. She never had a massage before in her life. She said she just wanted to relax.. I asked her if she had any pain in her body.. She toled me that she has a serious arthritic condition in her back.. She sees medical doctors for it.. She has had injections in her back.. I asked her what part of her back hurts the worst. She said lower back.. I asked her if any of the medical doctors touched her back..She looked kind of puzzled and said.. I dont think so.. I left the room so she could get on the table.. Her daughter was in the waiting area.. I told the daughter that there was a very good chance that her mother is going to be pain free after this massage.. The daughter said.. Oh she is not expecting to be pain free.. See has a serious arthritic spine...I said well maybe, but, she is 77 years old and has never had a massage in her life, and I have been doing massage for 30 years. She is going to feel prety good. And its my experience that most MDs dont know anything about muscle pain. The women ooh ed and aww d the entire massage. After her massage she came out into the waiting room and told her daughter and me that her back does not hurt anymore. I explained to them, that you can not rub out arthritis. And that I would bee considering a different kind of therapy for her back. Im sure that she has some arthritic donditions in her back. But thats not whats causing her pain.. Its tight sore muscles. So when I say.. Once any underlying pathology is ruled out. Im prety much talking about tumors or broken bones or cancer or something. 630 billion dollars was spent on the ache and pain industry last year. I wonder how much of the billions is incorect or waisted therapy? Our profession has so much potential. I wish there was some real leadership in our profession.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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It happened again today.. Another new client... A 66 year old female that told me she just needed a relaxation massage.. When I asked her if she had any pain in her body she told me that she has arthritis in her low back... I told her that its my experience that when I hear that... That it is usually not the cause of her pain.. Then she said.. Honey, Im seeing medical doctors, and its arthritis.. Nothing you can do about it.. I told her that I hear that all the time, and that its most likely not the cause of her pain... Well I could tell I was irritateing her.. So I backed off and started acting like she expected a massage therapist should act... I told her how to get on the table and left the room... To make a long story short.. I palpated two very nocioceptive spots in her Glutius Medius. I palpated no tender areas in her low back... I eliminated those Glutìus Medius TPs, and her back pain was gone.. She was freaked out....She got up off the table pain free.. Very happy and was raving to the other clients in the waiting room about her massage.. All she had was two very sore spots on her right hip.. Gosh to me.. its not even a problem.. Anybody over 40 shows arthritis on all these diagnostic images.. But no body palpates.. If they did.. They would have known her butt was sore on the right side... She is coming back in next week for a 25 minute follow up session.. She had that so called artritis back pain for two years.. Give me a break.. It was two freakin trigger points.. Her problem is over... Its like that movie Ground Hogs day... Same thing over and over again..
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"What is simple, is simply seen. And what is simple is rarely understood."
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The 66 year old with the arthritic low back problem. The attached file has a picture of what she really had.
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Permalink Reply by Lee Edelberg on
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Awesome.
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Permalink Reply by Don elder on
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Gordon can you share your technique to clear trigger points. Have been watching a lot of videos but seem to be getting a lot of conflicting advice. Thanks for your posts
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Well simply pressing on them for ten seconds would have offerd some relief. The point Im making is that few people even consider trigger points or actually palpate the pain. They get some kind of intelectual mis-diagnosis. The pain continiues and often gets worse. As far as techniques go, there are books with DVDs on Amazon that you can buy and get some good basic techniques down. There are lots of approaches that work on trigger points. When you palpate one. You try various apporaches.. See which one works. It might be different for each individual. There are even systems out there that trash trigger points that don't even mention trigger points. Like British sports therapy Soft Tissue Release. And then there is Myokinesthetics that eliminates trigger points without even working them directly. I also have another thread in here(Truth is often hidden) that no one has really responded too, that offers insight on the subject. There are ways to postion the clients body that can remove trigger points( Positional Release or Orthobionomy). Information on trigger points has been out there for many years. Travells and Simons Book "Myofacial Pain and Dysfunction the Trigger Point Manual" although a medical text offers great insight on trigger points. Check out www.kenthealth.com
Don elder said:Gordon can you share your technique to clear trigger points. Have been watching a lot of videos but seem to be getting a lot of conflicting advice. Thanks for your posts
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The 66 year old client came back in yesterday for her follow up massage session. 25 minute session. She said that she felt much better, 80% in her words, but that she still had a discomfort in her lower back. I re-palpated her Glute medius and those TPs were still gone.. However I did find a TP in her Illiocostolis Lumborum that I had somehow missed on her first visit. She got up off the table 100% pain free. She was very happy.. She asked me how come the medical people didn't know what her problem was. I told her I don't know, the information is in medical text books.. Then she told me that at first she was a little anoyed at me for insisting that we work on taking her pain out, because she was burnt out and just wanted to relax. I said yea I know, I had to make a quick decision and decided to go that way.. She siad Im glad you did.. Ive been dealing with this for years... I will add an attachment of the Illiocostolis trigger point.. Its the picture on the left.
Gordon J. Wallis said:The 66 year old with the arthritic low back problem. The attached file has a picture of what she really had.
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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Thanks for always posting the pictures of what you are working on! It really helps with understanding what is happening for your clients.
I have a new client who has been told she needs a hip replacement. I can't remember at this point if I posted anything about her. Anyway, she's been twice and is really impressed with how much better she feels. I have never worked on anyone with that level of tension in their glutes and hip rotators. That alone is causing her a great deal of trouble. She was thrilled when she left last Saturday - she could take longer steps and she was so happy! She's coming back again on Saturday. Back in the day she was the lead baton twirler here at OK State University, and it really took a toll on her body. But the good news is that I'm able to help her, and I'm very honored that I can.
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I had a women in last week that was very worried about maybe having to get surgery for her problem of pain radiating down both arms. She has had this problem for a few months. However, it was just a couple of trigger points.. One in each arm.. It was not comming from her neck or shoulders as she was led to believe. In two short sessions her pain was gone. People get the worng diagnosis and therapy all the time when it comes to structural pain. The vast majority of the time actually. Look at the attachment. Look how much pain that trigger point can cause.. No one palpated her except me. They just do some kind of intelectual diagnosis. Truth Remains Hidden.
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Wow! That's a lot of effect from one trigger point. This work can do such great things for people. I'd say that I wish more people knew about it but I have a full practice and am starting 4 new clients this week!!
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Yea for most other health care providers, practioners, and therapists...its radiating nerve pain.. However, in most cases their pain is trigger points in muscles. I run into several people a week that have bin misdiagnosed for their pain problems..It would be too much typing in here for me to talk about all of them. And Therese, four new clients.. that awesome!! Its always exciting to have new clients...I wonder why they want massage? They hurt....or just burnt out or? Its always interesting...
Therese Schwartz said:Wow! That's a lot of effect from one trigger point. This work can do such great things for people. I'd say that I wish more people knew about it but I have a full practice and am starting 4 new clients this week!!
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One of them was referred to me by my massage therapist! She needed CranioSacral Therapy for some of her pain issues. Another one is coming specifically for CST; I'm the highest trained therapist for a lot of miles around. Just took CST for Pediatrics! That was an adventure; I don't have kids and haven't been around them much but it was a great opportunity for personal growth, and I took it with several friends (including one from Greece and one from Canada!). And I have one more coming for pain issues but I can't remember what they are. Too many new ones all at once! :)
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