Trigger Point Therapy - your suggestions

[slipthejab]

I've always gotten good results from massage in terms of recovery and let's face it.. it just feels good at the time. But these days due to gettin' older and increasing my training load something fierce I'm on the look out for ways to shorten recovery time between strength training and Muay Thai sessions.

The legs and the core take a beating in Muay Thai as do the shoulders... so I try to eat right, sleep right and get a good amount of massage in.

I'd heard and read bits on Trigger Point Therapy. I'd like to know more and hear your experiences if any.

I've been playing around a lot with myofascial release on a foam roller and have gotten good results so far. I want to take it a step further and get more of the background on why it feels good and how to go about understand the mechanisms that make it work and so apparently effective.

I've also been using the PowerPlate machine as a massage machine of sorts. No one at the gym uses them much so I just lay on them at every angle and go for the vibe... lol. Feels great and seems to help a tad. No scientific evidence to back it up but feels great.

I recently picked up:

The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook
By Claire Davies - N.C.T.M.B.

http://www.triggerpointbook.com/

Fascinating stuff so far. Anyone out there know anything about trigger point therapy good bad or otherwise. I'm open to all opinions and experiences.

[dormindo]

Trigger Point Therapy is good stuff in my opinion--though as a bodyworker/massage therapist, I'm biased. I do tend to lean more toward techniques such as myofascial release, positional release therapy, rolfing and the like as trigger point therapy--at least as how I was taught it, looked at the body in a segmented fashion.

I'm not familiar with the book you mentioned, but the classic book on trigger point is Travell and Simmons Trigger Point Manual. I wouldn't recommend buying it, though, as it it is a huge and expensive two volume manual typically only found in medical bookstores (though I'm sure its on amazon). The book you have probably gives a good inroduction.

As for personal experience, I have used the techniques on clients with varying degrees of success--I have been able to reduce pain far more often than not with them. My partticular issue is that I would also like for the client to let go of patterns that lead to muscular/fascial pain, so I'm now leaning toward the above mentioned modalities as well as Feldenkrais Method. Of course, there is also the controversial matter of what exactly a trigger point is (at least, controversial at the time I was learning it).

I just realized that I may have rambled a bit here, let me know if any of this helps.

paz,

dormindo

[CosmicFish]

Slip, from my limited understanding of trigger-point therapy, I'd suspect it wouldn't be that much use for speeding recovery betwen sessions. AFAIK, it's a form of therapy specifically to alleviate problems brought about by trigger points. If you have any - it'll help, but if you don't then I doubt it'll do you much good. An all over massage from an experienced masseuse would probably be better.

[kuntaoer]

After a few workouts of my Kuntao and silat systems, my back is usually screaming as a result of the body cranks along with the arm drags, I usually wind up going to a chiropractor who also uses the trigger point therapy.. First time I tried it, it didn't really work, but after a couple of more trips, it started to work and I use it from time to time to get over the stiffness and lack of flexibility in the neck and back region.. Of course, it works real well after getting loosened up by the body adjustments of the chiropractor when the deep muscle and joints can't get loosened up

[Knight_Errant]

sounds like one of those things that people blame their body's natural recovery on. Sorry.

[slipthejab]

sounds like one of those things that people blame their body's natural recovery on. Sorry.

err... what does? Trigger Point Therapy?

Just curious... what exactly is your experience of it besides hearing about it?

[inthespirit]

I think its very useful for soft tissue injuries (chronic and acute). The book in the 1st post is great. Some tools like a ball in a sock or against a wall or both can be quite helpful too.

[slipthejab]

I think its very useful for soft tissue injuries (chronic and acute). The book in the 1st post is great. Some tools like a ball in a sock or against a wall or both can be quite helpful too.

You know I've been using something similar... just a little green ball with nobbley bits on it... and just set it up against the wall between and then lean on to it and move around to massage it. Also great on the rear deltoids. Man this one thing has taken out so much of the soreness from heavy punching sessions. It makes areas that are very hard if not impossible to reach... relatively easy to massage. I would have been the biggest 'Pffftt... wtf?!' skeptic about this until I tried. Man it's brilliant.

[inthespirit]

Yeah, definitely a useful tool in the "hands on arsenal". You can also get this stick thing called a "thera cane" if I remember correctly, can be useful too. But, I prefer walls and balls, much easier to get a good pressure using your body weight.

[slipthejab]

Slip, from my limited understanding of trigger-point therapy, I'd suspect it wouldn't be that much use for speeding recovery betwen sessions. AFAIK, it's a form of therapy specifically to alleviate problems brought about by trigger points. If you have any - it'll help, but if you don't then I doubt it'll do you much good. An all over massage from an experienced masseuse would probably be better.

Yep yep... that was me muddling myofascial release and TPT. Yes and I agree so far the massage via the foam roller or the masseuse are a great way to speed recovery between sessions. :cool:

[slipthejab]

Trigger Point Therapy is good stuff in my opinion--though as a bodyworker/massage therapist, I'm biased. I do tend to lean more toward techniques such as myofascial release, positional release therapy, rolfing and the like as trigger point therapy--at least as how I was taught it, looked at the body in a segmented fashion.

I'm not familiar with the book you mentioned, but the classic book on trigger point is Travell and Simmons Trigger Point Manual. I wouldn't recommend buying it, though, as it it is a huge and expensive two volume manual typically only found in medical bookstores (though I'm sure its on amazon). The book you have probably gives a good inroduction.

As for personal experience, I have used the techniques on clients with varying degrees of success--I have been able to reduce pain far more often than not with them. My partticular issue is that I would also like for the client to let go of patterns that lead to muscular/fascial pain, so I'm now leaning toward the above mentioned modalities as well as Feldenkrais Method. Of course, there is also the controversial matter of what exactly a trigger point is (at least, controversial at the time I was learning it).

I just realized that I may have rambled a bit here, let me know if any of this helps.

paz,

dormindo

Yes very interesting. I'm trying to map a way through a bunch of these different therapy types. I get a chance to play with a lot of myofascial therapy not only for myself but to try to work out issues on clients etc. I've gotten good results so far for recovery from Muay Thai sessions and weights/KB workouts with the foam roller and the ball-on-the-wall. I'm now at the point where I want to go a bit deeper. I don't really see myself treating people with chronic pain or anything like that really... more just people that I deal with in PT's and Muay Thai/boxing. But you never know... I'm seeing good results from clients who are doing conditioning workouts and then following simple myofascial release methods that I use. I'm certainly not certed or anything like that in it... but I'm going on what's worked for me in terms of recovery and alleviation of pain and fatigue from heavy training sessions.

Of course no small part in the recovery phase is the rest and a much improved sleep schedule and some serious diet work in terms of the proper amounts of calories and protein in my daily intake. Of course I try to also pass that on to PT clients as well.