A technique used to release contracted knots in the muscle known as trigger points. Direct pressure is applied directly to the trigger point until it releases the tension.
Trigger Point Therapy is and effective treatment for relief of chronic headaches, low back and neck pain and many other muscular complaints.
Trigger points can entrap nerves, blood and lymph vessels, causing a variety of symptoms that confuse both doctors and patients. Often times nerve damage or herniated disks is suspected, and many expensive even unnecessary tests are conducted. When the tests turn up negative, even though the symptoms persist, the patient is often told there is nothing wrong with them.
When you have trigger points, your muscle strength becomes compromised. You may notice that you are not as strong as you once were. You may also experience an arm or a leg going numb while you are sleeping.
Chronic headache pain is often caused by referred pain, pain that is felt in one part of the body but originates from another part of the body. Trigger points in the neck and upper back, once released, will usually eliminate the headache pain entirely.
Dizziness, ringing of the ears, loss of balance, and other symptoms can all be caused by trigger points in the side of the neck, in the muscle group called the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) complex. The SCM complex is responsible for relating messages to the brain regarding the position of the head. What the receptors in the neck tell the brain, is not what eyes tell the brain. When the head moves, the message to the brain changes, you get dizzy. Also, trigger points associated with the SCM muscle group can cause patterns of light and dark which can cause a seizure like phenomenon.
Some other symptoms of trigger points include the following: Stiffness • localized sweating • eye tearing • copious salivation • nausea • tinnitus • goose bumps • runny nose • buckling knees • weak ankles • illegible handwriting • muscle cramps.
Most specific pains called fibromyalgia are actually caused by trigger points. Trigger points seem to form throughout life as a response to the many things that happen to our bodies. They can by caused by a variety of events ranging from a surgical incision, overuse, repetitive motion trauma, bruises, strains, joint problems and so forth. Many of the aches and pains attributed to “old age” may actually be due to trigger points, and may be reversible.