How Does Trigger Point Therapy Help Patients Towards Their Road to Recover?

It is estimated that nearly half of American adults suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain.  This condition is common, but it is difficult to diagnose and even harder to treat effectively.

The trigger points in your musculoskeletal system are extremely sensitive, with muscle fibers retaining tension and suffering damage over time. As a result, you feel pain throughout your body. The trigger points are easily identifiable since they hurt when you press on them.

Trigger point therapy can effectively relieve chronic pain in some people because it helps relieve tension in the body. In contrast to conventional medicine, trigger point therapy is a non-surgical, drug-free alternative treatment for musculoskeletal pain. It works by relieving muscle tension throughout the body.

How Does Trigger Point Therapy in Philadelphia Work?

Among the many ways to get rid of trigger point pain, trigger point massage therapy is undoubtedly the least invasive. A trigger point therapy session involves the application of pressure to the contracted muscle for 30 to 90 seconds to ease the pain by releasing the tension in the muscle.

A trigger point or muscle spasm may also cause lactic acid to build up in the muscles, depriving them of oxygen. Trigger point massage releases the lactic acid, allowing oxygen to return to the muscles and relieving pain.

Why Should You Go with Trigger Point Massage?

The trigger point therapy can effectively treat lower back pain, tension headaches, restless leg syndrome, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Trigger point therapy may also be beneficial as part of an overall pain management plan for those suffering from fibromyalgia or myofascial pain syndrome.

Trigger points can also occur as a result of muscle injury or overuse. And that is why this therapy is often recommended for athletes or those who perform repetitive motions regularly.

While pregnant women may also find trigger point therapy beneficial in relieving lower back and hip pain, they should look for a therapist who is also trained in prenatal massage.

Who Should You Avoid Trigger Point Therapy?

Firstly, this therapy is not suitable for individuals looking strictly for a relaxing massage, as it requires the therapist to exert sufficient pressure to release tension from muscles.

Certain medical conditions are contraindicated with trigger point therapy, including osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative joint disease, advanced diabetes, hyperesthesia, bleeding clots, goiter, and obstructive edema.

It’s also advisable to avoid trigger point therapy if you are taking blood thinners or cortisone treatment. Before booking the trigger massage treatment, you should consult your doctor if you have recently undergone surgery or have an acute injury or illness.

Wrapping Up

Whether you need trigger point therapy, back pain treatment, or neck pain treatment in Philadelphia, you should rely on experts, as they’ll offer you the best options.

Can’t Get Rid of Lower Back Pain? Try Myofascial Release Therapy

Do you wonder why you keep struggling with lower back pain despite many chiropractic treatments and therapies? If yes, it could be because the treatment might have focused on the spine or hips alone and no attention was paid to your pelvic floor muscles. Many muscles are attached to and support your pelvis and lower back. Many patients can benefit from therapeutic bodywork that also factors in myofascial release to address the issue of lower back pain.

Most people don’t have any idea about what myofascial release therapy is. Thus, today, we will discuss myofascial release therapy in detail and discuss how it can help in reducing back pain.

What is Myofascial Release Therapy?

Myofascial release is a therapy technique that focuses on pain that arises from myofascial tissues – tough membranes that cover, connect, and support your muscles. This technique is often used in combination with different massages.

Myofascial pain is different from other types of pain as it occurs in trigger points, which are linked to stiff anchored areas covered in myofascial tissues. However, the pain caused by a trigger point is difficult to localize without proper knowledge and training.

Trained and qualified massage therapists can locate the myofascial areas that cause pain. These areas feel stiff and fixed instead of being elastic and movable when checked under light manual pressure. These areas are believed to restrict muscle and joint movements, which further contribute to widespread muscle pain.

When focused manual pressure and stretching are applied during myofascial release therapy, it helps loosen up restricted movement, and indirectly helps in reducing pain.

How does myofascial release can help relieve lower back pain?

Many professionals miss the link between lower back pain and the structure that involves your pelvic floor muscles and tailbone. Most women who experience regular lower back pain also suffer from pelvic floor dysfunction. It can be often difficult to figure out which comes first – the tension in the pelvic floor or the back pain.

Your pelvic floor helps stabilize the core and the lower back. Thus, when your back is in pain, the pelvic floor muscles may get tightened in an effort to try and protect the affected area. But that can cause problems as it can lead to overuse or over-clenching of the pelvic floor. In other cases, pelvic dysfunction may occur first and affect the stability and mobility of your spine, which in turn lead to lower back pain.

In both scenarios, lower back pain and pelvic floor dysfunction impact and reinforce each other. Therefore, both areas must be addressed properly.

Massage therapists can help you reduce lower back pain by addressing both areas using different techniques such as myofascial release and trigger point therapies. Both of these techniques may seem the same as both of them address stubborn muscle knots, but they are different. While myofascial release involves slower stretching and dynamic movement across large areas of tissue, trigger point therapy applies direct pressure to specific muscle knots.

If you are also suffering from lower back pain that is not going away with regular therapies and treatments, you should consider evaluating your pelvic floor area and lower back to see if you can benefit from therapeutic bodywork that involves myofascial release or trigger point therapy or both.

Is a foot massage good for me? What type of foot massage should I choose?

People who walk and travel a lot often struggle with pain and tiredness. To the surprise of many, you can greatly benefit from foot massage. Foot massage can help you relieve tension in muscles, improve blood circulation, stimulate muscles and reduce pain not only in the feet but also in other parts of the body. To ensure overall wellbeing and health, foot massage is one of the best things you can choose to do. Now, the question arises that which type of foot massage you should choose.

When it comes to feet, you may hear several terms like shiatsu foot massage, reflexology, and trigger point therapy. It’s easy to get confused when you don’t know what exactly they mean. In this blog, we will discuss a variety of foot massages. But before that let’s check out how foot massage works.

How can Foot Massage help you heal?

The concept of foot massage is in existence for centuries and is based on the theory of Asian healers who works on the principle that certain pressure points on your feet are directly linked to the rest of your body and thus, can help release tension from different body parts. When nerves in the feet are stimulated, they send signals to your central nervous system to help your body heal and relax.

The Chinese refer to this concept as “reflexology”, while the Japanese use the term “Shiatsu”. Shiatsu foot massage and reflexology – both use the same principles of massage and acupuncture to help people release tension from their body, heal pains, improve circulation, and enhance flow in your body.

Does shiatsu foot massage really work?

Even though the science behind reflexology is not clear, a lot of studies have shown that shiatsu foot massage can be effective at soothing and managing pain. So, yes, you can benefit from a shiatsu foot massage and enjoy the relaxing and healing effects that it imparts.

Is Reflexology different from a foot massage?

Foot massage and reflexology seem to be similar but there are key differences. However, both of them offer various benefits. While foot massage therapy involves the manipulation of tissues to relax muscles, relieve tension, and improve circulation, reflexology (shiatsu massage), on the other hand, uses a targeted, pressure-point massage to restore the energy flow throughout your body.

Is trigger point therapy helpful for treating foot pain?

Foot pain, such as Plantar Fasciitis is often best treated with trigger point therapy and other therapies. Trigger points are the sites in your body that refer pain, meaning they send pain to some other part of your body. This therapy can help stop the pain if the condition is correctly diagnosed.

Can cupping massage help reduce foot pain?

Cupping massage uses the technique that originates from traditional Chinese medicine and is often used in combination with trigger point therapy, acupuncture, or dry needling. It involves pulling blood to a region through cupping to stimulate healing and effectively stretching tight fascia and muscles.

If you are too experiencing pain in your body caused by trigger points or you simply want to feel relaxed, book an appointment for consultation with a licensed massage therapist to discuss your concerns and the best massage solution.

Contact Us