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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 Gary W Addis, LMT on
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I know. Getting older is another stage of life. In the beginning, we happily poop and pee in diapers and smile while mommy cleans our behinds, toward the end, we poop and pee in diapers but are embarrassed because our child must now clean our behinds.
TPs cause 90% of a human's suffering. It's a very special gift to humanity to develop the skills to make the hurt stop
Gordon J. Wallis said:
Gary, here is the deal... I'm not a doctor.. All I do is find tender spots, hurt spots, trigger points, painful spots... whatever you want to call them... Regaurdless of whatever the problem is or diagnosis... All I do is look for tender spots on the body.. and then do what I try to do is make them go away...( 90% succsess rate ), And if Im able to do that... then most of the time I make whatever the complaiint or pain problem is.. goes away... if it does not.. Then I dont help the person...so... I wish I lived near you. If I could help you... we would know real fast....What i do is simple.. If it works it works... If not, it does not. You would not see me for six months to a year without very noticible improvement.. I fail, I fail fast... Some times things are not as they seem.. I had a client today... That had pain into her Groin are,, for months . I found a very tender spot ( to her suprise ) on her pubic bone on the same side as her groin pain.. . Right on her pubic bone on the same side as her groin pain...there was a very sore spot.. I deactivated that... So... so she will come in if it still bothers her.... Might have to release it a coupld of times.. She knows that.... Any way... As far as you go... Im not sure.. But the older one gets, ther more pain there is... You are my good friend online here.. We will hook up some time... Im sure of that.. Uhm, my right ring finger is trigger fingered.. Painful as hell. Nothing internal.. But... I know pain....So when I can make some ones pain go away... I feel good... I feel good today.. I wanna meet you in life some day..
Gary W Addis, LMT said:I could use a visit with you. I have: a hiatal hernia, post nasal drip that's thick and causes coughing when it tries to slide down the back of my throat, intermittent abdominal bloating (and no appetite) followed by diarrhea every couple of weeks. Oh, and my shoulders and neck are studded with trigger points I haven't had much luck trying to reach and work.
Oh, and for a week now I've had an outbreak of my psoriasis; before, the rash was always around my elbows, but this time it's covering my shoulders, chest and back...not itchy but sometimes some of the rash feels like pins being stuck in. Wife said to her it looks like shingles, which her dad had once, lasted weeks before it cleared up.
Ah, getting old and getting susceptible to all these irritating little ills is not fun-- but, well, I suppose it's better than the alternative to getting older. ( : - / )
Gordon J. Wallis said:I client came in the other day. She has been suffering with a sinus infection and a croopy type of caugh for about three weeks. She comented that when she caughs her stomach( abdomin ) hurts sometimes. She was not real sick, just sort of half sick. Anyway I massaged her. When she turned over I checked her abdominal arae and found two very tender spots. I was able to deactivate both spots quickly. When people are sick, I always want to check their abdominal area. Because of possible internal organ stress and the tightening of the abdominals during caughing.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on
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The attachment below is interesting.
Gary W Addis, LMT said:I could use a visit with you. I have: a hiatal hernia, post nasal drip that's thick and causes coughing when it tries to slide down the back of my throat, intermittent abdominal bloating (and no appetite) followed by diarrhea every couple of weeks. Oh, and my shoulders and neck are studded with trigger points I haven't had much luck trying to reach and work.
Oh, and for a week now I've had an outbreak of my psoriasis; before, the rash was always around my elbows, but this time it's covering my shoulders, chest and back...not itchy but sometimes some of the rash feels like pins being stuck in. Wife said to her it looks like shingles, which her dad had once, lasted weeks before it cleared up.
Ah, getting old and getting susceptible to all these irritating little ills is not fun-- but, well, I suppose it's better than the alternative to getting older. ( : - / )
Gordon J. Wallis said:I client came in the other day. She has been suffering with a sinus infection and a croopy type of caugh for about three weeks. She comented that when she caughs her stomach( abdomin ) hurts sometimes. She was not real sick, just sort of half sick. Anyway I massaged her. When she turned over I checked her abdominal arae and found two very tender spots. I was able to deactivate both spots quickly. When people are sick, I always want to check their abdominal area. Because of possible internal organ stress and the tightening of the abdominals during caughing. - Attachments:
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A client came in complaining about a very sore upper left chest area near the sternum along with radiating pain between her left shoulder blade and spine. When she takes a deep breath it hurts a bit more. She felt that she had a rib out. She had been pressing hard on the chest sore spot herself and thinks she made it worse. Her husband told her that she needs her ribs popped back into place. She knew I was good at making pain go away and thought she would give it a try before seeing someone else. I did my trigger point exam and found a handful of em between her shoulder blade and spine. Some near the shoulderblade and some closer to the spine. She also had quite a few very tender lateral spinous areas along both sides of her thoracic spine. On the front of her body the worst spot, the one she had been pressing on, was on the edge of her upper sternum where the pecs would connect. Another sore one on her lower sternum between her breasts. She was also sore just under the clavicle. All on the left side... Well they all deactivated. It took about a half hour.. Two hours later I talked to her and she told me that right after the session that really sore spot on the upper edge of the sternum was still hurting. But now it does not hurt at all , and she doesnt feel any pain. So we will see how she is tomorrow. Might have to re-release some of those TPs tomorrow. But one thing is for sure.. There was no rib out.
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Good job!
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It was an interesting day. A client told me that I first saw her back in January this year. She told me that she had chronic left hip pain for ten years, and had seen an Acupuncturist, Physical Therapist, and Chiropractor for it, all without relief. She figured that she would have to live with it.. She told me that I worked on her hip just that one time, and she has been pain free ever sense. Although she was now symptomatic free, I palpated her left hip anyway. I found two Latent Trigger points. One in her Gluteus Medius, and another in her Gluteus Maximus( on the border of her Sacrum ). They both deactivated quickly. I can't remember how many trigger points she originally had on her left hip..but, it's over for her now. Gosh there must be a great many people out there being misdiagnosed and suffering needlessly ( days, months or years ) from Trigger Point Pain. Just as Dr. Janet Travell M.D. and Dr. David Simons M.D. worried about.
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Just about everyone has a few tps, coming alive for a time, going back into latent mode till stress of some kind brings it roaring back. You done good work, bro. As you always do
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Often times, if they come back for a few short follow up sessions ( four or five maybe ), even though they are no longer symptomatic, even the latent trigger points are no longer there. She just sent me this email ( attachment below ). Also, when they are symtomatic free, it's hard to convince them of the need to come back in order to eliminate any latent TPs that may still be present (ready to reactivate down the road ). In those particular cases, I just took care of the symptoms, the trigger points are still there ( although dormant ).
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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That's a great letter! Good work, Gordon!
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A client came in the other day complaining of a sharp stabbing pain in her upper right back. It wakes her up at night. She thinks she will have to see a doctor. She had tripped and fallen down some stares a couple of weeks ago. The pain developed about a week after. I palpated from her hips up too her head. I found a mild tender spot on her right lateral ribs and a really big tender spot at about the T4 or 5 level on her paraspoinals on the right side. When I say big, I mean painful and a very noticeable twitch response. An obvious trigger point. I was able to completely eliminate the lateral rib sore spot and down grade the T5 trigger point by 90%. I also used hot stones ,for about ten minutes , over the T5 trigger point in order to rush blood to the area. She should be able to sleep thorugh the night now. She knows she will need a follow up.
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It's been a while sense I comented in here. I keep saying the same thing over again, so I thought I would give it a break. Had a new client the other day that came in complaining of left shoulder pain that she has had for two years. The Medical Docs told her she had Arthritis of the Clavicle? Uhm, well, she may have had Arthritis of the Clavical but I don't think that was causing her shoulder pain. However I did find several TPs that would cause shoulder pain. Oh she also said that there was pain in her shoulder when she turned her head to the left. Anyway, on palpation I found a left Upper Trap tender spot, a couple lateral left neck tender spots, a very tender left Levator Scap., a TP in her left Paraspinals at the T1 level, a left Rhonboid TP, a very tender Carcoid Process, and the most tender spot of all on her Left SCM. I was able to deactivate all of those good enough for her to be pain free when she left the session. She could turn her head left without pain. She knows she needs a couple or three follow ups to make sure those tender spots stay gone.
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Permalink Reply by Chantel Martin on
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I applaud you.
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My whole deal is destroying trigger points.. You can change lives.
Chantel Martin said:I applaud you.
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