Trigger Points - Mike

[Guest guest]

Mike I am keeping you busy tongiht!! Kids are alseep so I have

plenty of time to type. lol

My background is ceramic engineering with a little electrical

engineering on the side. What I actually am is very good at

educating myself when needed and I am a master at internet research.

I also have that very wonderful chiro who answers most of the

questions I ask - I don't hesitate to ask again if I don't get the

info I need the first time.

TM was suppose to be MT, massage therapist, one was horrid (told me

all my pain would go away if I would just run 3 miles a day - this

after she pushed on all kinds of muscles and caused them to go

further into spasm could barely walk out of her office) the second

just didn't think I was in pain, muscles were tight, sure, but not

painful enough to get therapy.

Yes, I have a copy of the Davies book - it has been a Godsend for

relieving pain. I have a theracane and tennis balls and the knobble -

and on occasion, my husbands hands.

The left side (traps and supraspinatus) is always always tight to the

point of loss of sensation. Right now I can squeeze the trigger

point in the upper trap, but have relatively no feeling in the

supraspinatus. The right side is tight, but not as bad.

The pain is often refered up the back of the neck - where I can also

get trigger points that coincide with GV 16, GB 20 and B 10 (I

usually work these points by resting my head on the knobs on the back

of my chair - that way I can relax and let gravity do the work) This

refered pain does occasionally lead to headaches, but I'm learning to

make them go away.

Today I had a trigger point in my left coracobrachialis which was

particularly bad and referred pain down the shoulder into the

forearm, wrist (which has damage all on it's own) and top of hand to

the extent that I couldn't play piano or penny whistle. There is

also some left delt action going on.

My body is riddled with trigger points and I work them everyday - but

they always come back - I am making progress - most weeks there are

fewer than the week before. I've only been doing trigger point

therapy for 10 weeks, so I feel I've come a long way. As I sit here

thinking, I don't think I've ever gotten the supraspinatus to relax

and I believe that the constant contraction is pulling on the joints

which being what they are don't do their job causing other muscles to

to contract in opposition - and it's just like dominoes after that.

> First things first - what IS your background? You wrote this one

in

> MY language. You have either had some significnat training in this

> stuff or you have had one fine doc at some point who took the time

> to explain things ... and you listened.

>

> I am going to take your points in sequence.

>

> (1) chronically tight and spasmed supraspinatus and upper trap,

> compounded with trigger points.

>

> How are you treating the trigger points? How many are they? Where

> are they? What are the referred pain patterns? Do you have a copy

> of the " Trigger Point Therapy Workbook " by Davies? Do you have a

> Theracane? Is it always just the one side or is it bilateral? As

> info, I have a fair amount of experience working with trigger

> points. I also know some acupressure releases that are good for

> tight neck and shoulder problems.

>

> (2) What's a TM? Haven't heard that one before.

>

> (3) Any advice? Give me a bit more detail on the above and I

> probably will.