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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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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 13, 2015 at 1:57pm

I lose track of the clients that I write about in here.. One reason is that I dont take notes. I don't really need too. But this client sent me a testimonial, so Its easy for me to comment on. Anyone that says Trigger points are not real is suffering from some kind of delusional disorder. This client had active and latent trigger points up and down one side of her body. Some made her flinch when I touched them. By her third session she had no more trigger points at all, as well as no pain. The first sentence of her testimonial said. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GIVING ME BACK THE FREEDOM TO WALK. I can only imagine what would have happened if she would have gone to someone that knew nothing about trigger points. This is my truth. Make the tender ponts go away, you make the pain go away( usually ). The attachment is just another way to look at the GB meridian. Trigger points often follow meridians. She had a very painful spot in her upper lateral ribs that she was not aware of. She was aware of her lateral hip pain though.
Gordon J. Wallis said:
A new client, an elderly lady came in complaining of pain from her left knee up to her hip. It gets so bad that at times she can't get out of her chair without help. She has been dealing with this pain for two months. I explained acupressure and trigger point work to her, and let her watch a short video clip of me doing a trigger point session. I did my trigger point exam over her entire body. She had a bunch of trigger points along her bladder meridian. The worst ones were in her glutes. Where ever there are trigger points, you want to check out the entire meridian for additional tender spots ( in her canse the GB meridian ). She also had a fairly big trigger point on her lateral left ribs and lateral left calf. Any way, all of the tender spots deactivated. She felt very much better after the session which took 40 minutes. She was scheduled for an 80 minute session. But we ended it at 40 so she could save money and come back in for a follow up 25 minute session. She has only had these symptoms for two months.. So Im guessing maybe 3 or 4 sessions and it should be over. She is elderly though.. Not sure how that will play into it. But its all trigger points and her problem should soon be over.
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Permalink Reply by Opel Hess on May 15, 2015 at 3:58am

I found this thread extremely helpful and thought provoking. Massage therapy has an answer to most of the diseases or moreover conditions that we come across in our day to day life. I used to suffer from a chronic back pain that had left me totally stressed. My friend recommended me to a wellness center in Mississauga where I underwent a chiropractic treatment for the problem and gotta say, it was wonderful. Now I can walk and sit and stand and do whatever which was kind of unthinkable a few months back.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 15, 2015 at 11:15am
Gosh I had an interesting day the other day. One client, that suffers headaches almost every day came in for a massage. His headache is one sided, the left side. I found two lateral tender ponts on his left neck, and another tender point in his left temple. Because he gets headaches almost every day I wanted to check his abdominal area for tender points. They often show up because of internal organ stress. And often there is a tender spot to the lower right of the belly button ( ILIOCECAL VALVE ) with chronic headache people. And in his case there was.. And he knew about it.. He said he has had all kinds of tests and scans for his painful lower right abdominal area. The pain remains unknown. The Docs want him to go to the Mayo Clinic to see if they can find out the cause of his abdominal pain.. Well guess what.. He left the spa without that Abdominal pain. It was a trigger point. He also had two very ticklish spots on each side of his spine at around T12, L1 on his Para Spinals. I mean when I touched those ereas his body would involuntarily flinch away from my touch.. His whole body would lock up and move almost violently. Two areas of hypersensitivity.. Its good to deactivate that hypersensitivity. Calm that nervouse system down.. And I was able to do that. He was not ticklish on those spots when he left the spa. And this was cool.. He had a painful spot on the bottom of his right foot that he has had for twenty years. He was more then surprised when it vanished... It was way cool to work on him. All those distinct painful points vanished along with the tickle spots. Ticklishnes and pain follow the same neural pathways by the way.. Anyway, that guy suffered needlessly for years because he had trigger points. Now will all those spots come back? I don't know. I hope to find out though... But the fact that they all vanished at least for now, is clinically significant. And his pain problems should soon be over. Anyway, that kind of stuff makes my day.
Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on May 15, 2015 at 12:09pm

they might return.  Sometimes it takes awhile for the body to learn that there's no reason to reform those movement-limiting, protective trigger points, that whatever dysfunction caused them in the beginning is no longer an issue

Gordon J. Wallis said:

Gosh I had an interesting day the other day. One client, that suffers headaches almost every day came in for a massage. His headache is one sided, the left side. I found two lateral tender ponts on his left neck, and another tender point in his left temple. Because he gets headaches almost every day I wanted to check his abdominal area for tender points. They often show up because of internal organ stress. And often there is a tender spot to the lower right of the belly button ( ILIOCECAL VALVE ) with chronic headache people. And in his case there was.. And he knew about it.. He said he has had all kinds of tests and scans for his painful lower right abdominal area. The pain remains unknown. The Docs want him to go to the Mayo Clinic to see if they can find out the cause of his abdominal pain.. Well guess what.. He left the spa without that Abdominal pain. It was a trigger point. He also had two very ticklish spots on each side of his spine at around T12, L1 on his Para Spinals. I mean when I touched those ereas his body would involuntarily flinch away from my touch.. His whole body would lock up and move almost violently. Two areas of hypersensitivity.. Its good to deactivate that hypersensitivity. Calm that nervouse system down.. And I was able to do that. He was not ticklish on those spots when he left the spa. And this was cool.. He had a painful spot on the bottom of his right foot that he has had for twenty years. He was more then surprised when it vanished... It was way cool to work on him. All those distinct painful points vanished along with the tickle spots. Ticklishnes and pain follow the same neural pathways by the way.. Anyway, that guy suffered needlessly for years because he had trigger points. Now will all those spots come back? I don't know. I hope to find out though... But the fact that they all vanished at least for now, is clinically significant. And his pain problems should soon be over. Anyway, that kind of stuff makes my day.
Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 15, 2015 at 1:06pm

Well, my experience is that they might not. But if they do. My experience is that after four sessions or so, they are gone forever. Once the tissue has time to heal the muscle is no longer shortend and weak. Tps are never given time to heal or noticed in the first place.
Gary W Addis, LMT said:

they might return.  Sometimes it takes awhile for the body to learn that there's no reason to reform those movement-limiting, protective trigger points, that whatever dysfunction caused them in the beginning is no longer an issue

Gordon J. Wallis said:

Gosh I had an interesting day the other day. One client, that suffers headaches almost every day came in for a massage. His headache is one sided, the left side. I found two lateral tender ponts on his left neck, and another tender point in his left temple. Because he gets headaches almost every day I wanted to check his abdominal area for tender points. They often show up because of internal organ stress. And often there is a tender spot to the lower right of the belly button ( ILIOCECAL VALVE ) with chronic headache people. And in his case there was.. And he knew about it.. He said he has had all kinds of tests and scans for his painful lower right abdominal area. The pain remains unknown. The Docs want him to go to the Mayo Clinic to see if they can find out the cause of his abdominal pain.. Well guess what.. He left the spa without that Abdominal pain. It was a trigger point. He also had two very ticklish spots on each side of his spine at around T12, L1 on his Para Spinals. I mean when I touched those ereas his body would involuntarily flinch away from my touch.. His whole body would lock up and move almost violently. Two areas of hypersensitivity.. Its good to deactivate that hypersensitivity. Calm that nervouse system down.. And I was able to do that. He was not ticklish on those spots when he left the spa. And this was cool.. He had a painful spot on the bottom of his right foot that he has had for twenty years. He was more then surprised when it vanished... It was way cool to work on him. All those distinct painful points vanished along with the tickle spots. Ticklishnes and pain follow the same neural pathways by the way.. Anyway, that guy suffered needlessly for years because he had trigger points. Now will all those spots come back? I don't know. I hope to find out though... But the fact that they all vanished at least for now, is clinically significant. And his pain problems should soon be over. Anyway, that kind of stuff makes my day.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 15, 2015 at 2:43pm
Gosh, just finished with a client that I saw a few times last year for a rotator cuff injury. She had or was seeing all the usual players with no improvement ( no surprise to me ). After one year her trigger points are still gone, and she received a good spa massage today. She was laughing when she told me that last year, when I asked her if there was anything wrong. She thought to herself, well yea, but what are you going to do about it? After all I'm seeing medical professionals for my shoulder pain, and this is a spa. Lol.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 16, 2015 at 1:32pm
Had another client the other day that was a migrainer. She was in her late 20s and has been suffering from migrains sense childhood. She is on medication( the only thing that stops her headaches ). She has had lots of massages in the past for her back pain and headaches.. She use to get them every week at one point. She was in for a 50 minute massage. I showed her a video clip of me doing my Acupressure TP work. She said she never had that before looks interesting and wanted me to go for it if I really think it would help her back pain. Its worse then normal, and she has not had any kind of body work in a long time. I found many tender points. Trapezius, Sternocleidomastoid, Lateral Cervical muscles, Maseters, Obicularis Oculi, Temporalis, Mid Paraspinals around T12 to T10 area, Rhomboids, Pectoralis Major, several Lateral Spinous, Gluteus Medius, as well as Two in her Lower Abdominal area. She participated in the entire session. Telling me when I touched a Tender Point and when it vanished. I followed a pattern and palpated her entire body from her hips to the top of her head, front, back, and sides. She was amazed at how good she felt after the session. After working on her for the first time I told her that I know where her Tender Points are and we could shorten her next session to 25 minutes if she wants to save money and get out of pain quickly. Also, she can keep her clothes on sense its only Acupressure Techniques. If she wants a massage, thats a different deal.. She said the Acupressure is perfect for her. Gosh she had to feel better with all those Tender Points gone( at least for a while ).
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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on May 16, 2015 at 3:33pm

Do you get clients who just zonk out the first time a tp is compressed?  I definitely get an endorphine rush, and just zone out if I don't fight it.  So I always make a point to urge someone who comes because they r in pain to stay alert, for I need their response to guide the treatment.   Oh, even if the clients is snoring, I can usually feel the very slight flutter in a muscle when a very tender trigger point is compressed.  But, it's a virtual certainty that I miss the less sensitive ones. 

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 17, 2015 at 12:57pm

Uhm.... No that does not happen( ZONKING ). Once the decision is made to do Trigger Point work, the massage mindset is gone. Its basically an exam over the entire body that the client participates in. They know that they have to tell me if or when I touch a Tender Point. And if i do the release right. The tender point is gone instantly. So there is nothing to Zonk about.
Gary W Addis, LMT said:

Do you get clients who just zonk out the first time a tp is compressed?  I definitely get an endorphine rush, and just zone out if I don't fight it.  So I always make a point to urge someone who comes because they r in pain to stay alert, for I need their response to guide the treatment.   Oh, even if the clients is snoring, I can usually feel the very slight flutter in a muscle when a very tender trigger point is compressed.  But, it's a virtual certainty that I miss the less sensitive ones. 

Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on May 17, 2015 at 2:58pm

that's the difference in your tp techniques, and the hard-pressure-for-five-minutes or-till-the-client-screams-stop method that most schools still teach (if they even discuss trigger points).  Most who do tp work really hurt the clients, Gordon.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 18, 2015 at 1:26pm
So very many TPs bit the dust yesterday. One of the clients has been suffering for years.. Sense being a teenager. Tons of physical therapy. Of course that did not work. The only kind of therapy that will work on a Trigger Point victom is a kind of therapy that makes Trigger points go away. Nothing else. She must of had at least 60 active and latent Trigger points on her body. That was only from her hips to the top of her head. Didnt check her legs down yet. She was reffered to me from a friend that knew of my Acupressure/Trigger Point work. Her life is going to change. She has suffered needlessly over the years. She is not going to need her meds anymore here real soon if she continiues with the follow ups. I'm sure she will .. She cried in happiness. It will be cool to see her pain free.
Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on May 18, 2015 at 1:55pm
In the attachment below is what I consider to be the problem with massage therapy. Not one mention of Trigger Points or Tender Points. In my opinion there is too much empahsis on Fascia. Next to nothing on Tender Points. A trigger pointed muscle is a shortened weakend muscle. Muscle pull on bones. Other muscles compensate and so on...Trigger points cause Postural distortions. And besides that. The client I talked about in the above reply would never be able to handle any kind of Structual work. It would be just too painful. Well she could after you get rid of the Tender Points.
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