Finding Relief For Back And Neck Pain
Trigger Point Therapy
by Liz Wiseman RN
The problems associated with back and neck pain are well known and yet the cure is often elusive. Although it may be interesting to read about the causes of neck and back pain it really isn't what you are after. You are looking for a solution.
I don't claim to have found a solution for each and every pain but I have found something that works and it could very easily work for you too. It also works for other types of pain, but my success was with neck and back pain which involved some shoulder and arm pain, and so I will talk about that for starters.
You may already have heard of trigger point therapy and perhaps dismissed it or even tried it and given up. I bought the book The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Claire Davis a couple of years ago but I didn't really do much with it. I bought it for my chronic face pain and I wasn't successful at curing that using trigger points. (But I am going to try that again)
Then recently I developed the most excruciating back and neck pain. I am sure I don't have to explain to this audience how dreadful that can be. None of the over the counter pain killers helped. Physiotherapy did help but not enough. I was unable to sleep or do anything much at all and was just desperate.
It felt to me like referred pain in that it was diffuse and its exact location is hard to pinpoint. I got a prescription for codeine and took that plus 3 Paracetamol (Tylenol) tablets as often as I felt was safe.
Using Trigger Point Therapy
Eventually I remembered the Trigger Point Therapy book, and this time I read the book properly instead of just looking for my own symptoms! I spent a couple of days reading and trying to discover my trigger points and then I had a bit of a breakthrough. I had found my trigger point and massaged it several times for a couple of days, hoping I was doing it right. It hurt and it increased the pain so I was pretty sure I was in the right spot, but I didn't really expect anything sudden.
Then yesterday, right after one therapy session, the pain almost vanished. It was so astonishing. I knew it was a real breakthrough when I sat down at my computer and found that I could use it without increasing the pain. I hadn't been able to since the neck and shoulder pain started, it had been just too painful. Now suddenly it was OK. It wasn't completely cured but it had gone from an 8/10 on the pain scale to about 3/10.
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook
Claire Davis who is the author of the Trigger Point Therapy Work Book,
developed the method that was first conceived by Travell & Simons and
described in their "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point
Manual ". Travell & Simons' book was written for professionals and is not
very accessible.
Claire Davis has built on their method to make it possible for us to treat ourselves. The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Second Edition is very easy to understand and has clear drawings of the muscles and the location of their trigger points. He describes exactly what type of referred pain each may produce and how to carry out the therapy.
Massaging your trigger points is a painful business. It feels as if you have hit a nerve and you just have to grit your teeth and keep at it for 30 seconds or so. Anyone in constant pain will not find this too much to put up with for the sake of relief. Its a good pain because it tells you that you are in the right place.
Claire Davis writes that as a massage therapist he has found that many many types of pain are caused by trigger points and can be treated. He laments that so few health practitioners are aware of it.
It is worth giving trigger point therapy a try because it is something you can do at home very easily and it can have dramatic effects.
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