Trigger Point Therapy
Based on the discoveries of Drs. Janet
Travell and David Simons in which they found the causal
relationship between chronic pain and its source,
myofascial trigger point therapy is used to relieve
muscular pain and dysfunction through applied pressure
to trigger points of referred pain and through
stretching exercises. These points are defined as
localized areas in which the muscle and connective
tissue are highly sensitive to pain when compressed.
Pressure on these points can send referred pain to other
specific parts of the body.
Trigger point myotherapy is a
noninvasive therapeutic modality for the relief and
control of myofascial pain and dysfunction. The goal of
treatment is the client’s recovery from or a significant
reduction in myofascial pain. The treatment goal is
achieved through a systematized approach. Treatment
consists of trigger point compression, myomassage,
passive stretching, and a regime of corrective
exercises. Success may be measured subjectively by the
level of pain reduction experienced by the client and
objectively through increased range of motion, strength,
endurance, and other measures of improved function.
Trigger point myotherapy relies heavily on
client-therapist interaction, including verbal and
nonverbal elements. The myotherapist encourages the
client to be personally responsible for their
improvement, with attention to such factors as
nutritional intake, stress, proper exercises, mechanical
abnormalities, and other physical components. These
elements protect the client from delayed diagnosis,
delayed treatment, or contraindicated treatment, which
are the concerns of first order. Trigger point
myotherapy is an integrating approach to myofascial pain
and dysfunction.
