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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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Saw this client again today. She has six trigger points left. All on the lumbar paraspinals. She had over 60 when I first met her.
Gordon J. Wallis said:One of my clients that has had chronic back pain for years, has just completed her 5th session. She has been coming in every two or three days. When I first worked on her it took an hour to clear out her trigger points. This last session it only took 12 minutes to clear out all the trigger points. She told me her back feels much better now. Her next session will be in five days. Each session there are less and less trigger points.
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I was not busy today at all. A no show, and two cancelations. But anyway.. One of the clients I worked on today came in with her aunt. It was her aunts birthday. And she came along to cellibrate. I asked her what she needed from the massage today. She said. Well I have not been here before. I asked her if she hurt anywhere? She said.. Well my low back always bothers me. Then I let her read one of my testimonials. She seemed impressed. Those testimonials set up a real healing enviornment( most of the time). I then told her that I could give her a really good massage that she would love, but the chances of her low back still bothering her would continiue. If you want I will hunt out and remove that low back pain, then whatever time is left over I would give her a really good massage. She said Take the Pain out. I palpated from her hips up to the top of her neck. She flinched when I touched her upper sacrum and L5 erectors both sides. She was fine in the rest of her body. Well a couple minor trigger points on her paraspinals around T5 or so. In five minutes those three trigger points were gone, and I went on with her massage. Durring the massage she kept asking me questions about different kinds of pain issues. I answered all of them. Ends up she works in a hospital( I have no idea in what capasity). But she is going to come in on a 15 minute follow up. She took my card and had me text her the testimonial she read. So if you help somebody, it doesn't always pay off. But they often talk to people. I'm always excited about the next day( usually lol).
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It was a cool day today. By that I mean a good day. Three pain people today. I was able to dramatically help all of them. Two of them had gone through the gauntlet of chiropractic, MD, and Physical therapy care with no results.. One guy. I actually saw him for the 3rd time today. I knew I could help him, but with only limited progress the first two 25 minute sessions. His problem is a year old. Pain on Movement. He could not lift his arm past 90 degrees before pain would stop him. I studied and thought on his problem for two days. Today, after the session, he lifted it without pain over his head. Its not over yet. But that tells me it will be. The details of what I did would be difficult to type about. But I will add to this entry later(maybe?). All his other therapy he went through had failed for some of the reasons I've already commented on in this thread. The medical docs gave him one cortizone shot already. Didn't work. They wanted him to come in for a second one. He canclled that appointment. He knows he does not need it now. Within the next month his problem is over. I worked with him only 15 minutes today. Charged him $25.00. It was just a way cool day for me. If you have followed this entire thread, you have seen the attachments below. It helps me to read them over and over. They should be read over and over in every massage school in this country.
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Permalink Reply by Maryshka on
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This is great Gordon. I started using your line, "muscles move bone" with my clients. It helps them 'see' their problems better, especially the clients who get regular chiropractic treatment. I was one of those kinds of clients myself until I plateaued with that care. TrPs are surely an undervalued diagnosis.
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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on
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Yep. Vertebra are not loose to flop around, several layers of muscle keeps it in place. So if it gets out of alignment, a taut muscle strand pulled it out-- this is just commonsense.
Maryshka said:This is great Gordon. I started using your line, "muscles move bone" with my clients. It helps them 'see' their problems better, especially the clients who get regular chiropractic treatment. I was one of those kinds of clients myself until I plateaued with that care. TrPs are surely an undervalued diagnosis.
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You guys have read those attachments before. But they are truth.
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Its a rare day that I don't run into a handful of trigger points. Often times they have been there for years dispite other therapies.
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Just a comment. I met a person today that went to Physical therapy religioiusly two years for shoulder pain. And there was no improvement even after that time. Now Im not saying I can help her. But, if I work with somebody for four to six session, and there is no improvement, I tell them I can not help them. She said they did the same thing every session. I know there are good Pysical therapists out there, and I can't say Im better a physical therapist. But what I can say is that I am better, more capable , more honest, then the Physical therapists that worked with her for two years. There are only two possibilities. They do not know what they are doing or.. They are con-artists. Sadly, this type of thing is no that uncommon. Sickening to me. Truth Remains Hidden.
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True words.
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Maybe it's because of the insurance coverage thing... that patients go for long periods for same treatments? Perhaps many health care providers are dependent on regular insurance payments (however low the reimbursements are). Any payment is better than no payment (no income). If PTs rode the MT income roller coaster perhaps there would be fewer of them. I don't know. I do know about the mentality of the chiro clients who get massage 'because their insurance pays for it'. Does insurance keep a lot of PTs in business? If PT was private pay / cash-paying client, I wonder if things would be different, maybe more success in less amount of time?? I've been told by some people (including in the legal profession) that chiros just keep patients coming back, that they don't fix anything... well I know that the body can heal itself if/when given the right ingredients/environment... perhaps that's true sometimes as the body can't always heal itself from cancer, MS, etc. unless it isn't getting the right ingredients/environment to facilitate that healing in the first place...
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Please let client know that massage therapy DOES work for her and that you ARE a massage therapist because she grouped massage therapy into the treatments that did not work for her and where she spent her children's inheritance to no avail.
Please let her know that in order for massage therapy to work, she has to find the RIGHT therapist for her condition/needs.
Gordon J. Wallis said:Its a rare day that I don't run into a handful of trigger points. Often times they have been there for years dispite other therapies.
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Maryshka, I did not massage her. She spent a substancial amount of money on a dozeen massage therapists over the last 15 years. The results were nothing to worse. She needs to find the massage therapist for her conditon? The truth is, if she found the right Medical doctor for her condition, or the right Chiropractor for her condition, or the right Physical therapist for condition, I mean hell.. If she would have found the right Whitch doctor for her condition, she would have been fine. In fifteen years nobody of any health care profession, massage and all the rest, ever mentioned the word TRIGGER POINTs to her.. Never. Nobody. NONE, ZERO. Nobody recognized the truth of her pain. She was seeing Neurologists. I say this over and over.. TRUTH REMAINS HIDDEN. She knows Im a massage therapist. But I did not massage her. I did not medical doctor her, or chiropractic her or physical therapy her. None of those people, massage therapists inclueded, knew that her problem was trigger points. I worked on removing her trigger points. She had well over 100 trigger points on her body. Can you imagine the pain patters?( nerve pain or auto immune disease for every one else). . Originally when I met her she had a one hour massage scheduled. But she was in so much pain, she could not lay on the table over 20 minutes without feeling major discomfot. Our first session was over after 20 minutes. I know trigger points. I had to convince her to come in one more timie... Ok after six sessions. it was dramatic. Hense the teestimonial. Any of those professions could have fixed her if they knew the truth of her pain problem.. They did not... TRUTH REMAINS HIDDEN.
Maryshka said:Please let client know that massage therapy DOES work for her and that you ARE a massage therapist because she grouped massage therapy into the treatments that did not work for her and where she spent her children's inheritance to no avail.
Please let her know that in order for massage therapy to work, she has to find the RIGHT therapist for her condition/needs.
Gordon J. Wallis said:Its a rare day that I don't run into a handful of trigger points. Often times they have been there for years dispite other therapies.
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