pain meant some physical damage to muscles, joints, tendons or other tis-
sues, and that the body needed rest and then a gradual return to activity.. Now I know that much if not most pain comes from muscle spasms caused
by irritated trigger points, which can be treated with trigger point therapy.
e muscle spasms then calm down and the pain disappears. What usually
used to fix itself due to the relaxation following rest (but with age it takes
longer to happen, if it happens), I can now often fix almost immediately
with trigger point therapy I administer myself. And I am not an expert. I
have learned a little about the therapy and how to find the trigger points
in some of my own muscles, and yet I can perform little “miracles.” You will
likely need a few weeks of daily and serious practice before you can do some-
thing similar. But first you will need to study a book on the subject.. Prudden’s book, for example, will give you a new perspective of diagno-
ses that doctors too quickly and inaccurately jump to, such as arthritis,
chondromalacia patellae, carpal tunnel syndrome, and bursitis. Her book
also gives a new meaning to headaches, “growing pains,” back pain, and leg
cramps. But as Prudden herself notes, start off on “easy” things—like the
problems I handled quickly—get success there, and then move onto more
serious problems if you have them. Her book provides the “maps” to find
the trigger points you need to work on according to whatever problem you
want to treat. Once you have some experience you can find the trigger points
without having to refer to a text.. To be sure you are treating muscle spasms, get clearance from a medical
or chiropractic doctor that you have no anatomical pathology. And consult
a chiropractor so that any adjustment that can be done is done. ough
unlikely, the sensitive bump in a muscle that you think is a trigger point
could be a cyst or varicose vein. e evaluation by a medical professional is
necessary because in some conditions any delay in professional treatment
will cause deterioration of the problem.. Trigger points that are active can cause more than acute and localized pain,
though it is the latter that is my focus in this chapter. Here is what Prudden
says in her book, page :
Active trigger points can do more than cause pain. Muscles in spasm can entrap
nerves (sciatica), limit circulation (cold feet, slow healing and leg ulcers), pull
muscles into a shortened state (spasticity in stroke victims), cause weakness
(“the athlete’s feet go first”) and interfere with coordination. Even when they are