Trigger Points: The Real Cause of Chronic Fatigue, Muscle Pain, Fibromyalgia and More
Research by Drs. Janet Travell and David Simons, authors of "The Trigger Point Manual," has shown that trigger points are the primary cause of pain at least 75 percent of the time and are a factor in nearly every painful condition. <align>
Trigger points, a type of muscle stiffness, are the result of tiny contraction knots that develop in muscle and tissue when an area of the body is injured or overworked.
Trigger points are something traditional doctors ignore, but they could be the one thing that has been overlooked in your case for years, if not decades.
A hallmark of trigger points is something called "referred" pain. This means that trigger points typically send their pain to some other place in the body, which is why conventional treatments for pain so often fail. Many health care practitioners wrongly assume that the problem is located where the pain is and therefore fail to assess the body correctly to find the cause of your pain.
I'm going to give you some valuable information about trigger points that I hope will encourage you to consider the possibility that trigger points may be the missing link in your quest for relief.
What triggers a trigger point?
Trigger points can occur as a result of muscle trauma (from car accidents, falls, sports- and work-related injuries, etc.), muscle strain from repetitive movements at work or play, postural strain from standing or sitting improperly for long periods at the computer, emotional stress, anxiety, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, inflammation, and toxins in the environment. A single event can initiate a trigger point, and you can suffer the effects for the rest of your life if that trigger point is not addressed properly.
Why trigger points cause trouble
Your body's instinctive reaction to a harmful "event" is to protect itself. It does that by altering the way you move, sit, or stand, which puts abnormal stress on your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. This produces strength and flexibility imbalances in your muscles, as well as postural dysfunctions throughout your body.
If that were not bad enough, your blood flow can become restricted and when that happens both your peripheral and central nervous systems will start to send out those "referred" pain signals, making assessment and treatment even trickier. That's why some experts believe that trigger points are the beginning stage of fibromyalgia.
How does Trigger Point Therapy & Body Reflexologywork?
What is needed is sufficient deep sustained pressure to the "knotted-up area." As you work the Trigger Point, your body will undergo soft tissue release, allowing for increased blood flow, a reduction in muscle spasm, and the break-up of scar tissue. It will also help remove any build-up of toxic metabolic waste. Your body will also undergo a neurological release, reducing the pain signals to the brain and resetting your neuromuscular system to restore its proper functionAdd Comment
