Trigger Point Therapy

As I have grown in my practice as a massage therapist here in San Francisco, I have been drawn to Trigger Point Therapy as a way to alleviate chronic and "mystery" pain.

A quick story: I had a young man come to my office complaining of facial pain, pain behind his eyes, headaches, a sore throat and a stiff neck.

He told me he was disappointed that he went to a neurologist and all the neurologist could tell him was that he didn't have a brain tumor. He then went to an Ear, Nose and throat specialist that told him nothing was wrong with his ENT passages, but that it could be muscular.

So he found me.

Along with a full massage, we did some focused work on his Scalenes and his Sternocleidomastoid (two important muscles in the neck that help support and turn the head that often have trigger points due to whiplash or unhealthy holding patterns. Although the work for these muscles is done on the side and front of the neck, the work is *never* done on the esophogas, or throat and is well-documented. )

Amazingly, his symptoms were gone. He was thrilled.

So, what is trigger point therapy?

Here is the Wikipedia entry on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_point

And this book is fantastic for explaining not only what it is, in layperson's terms, but how you can work on yourself. I recommend it to everyone: http://www.triggerpointbook.com/

For more information about my San Francisco Massage Therapy Practice, please visit www.true-massage.com