triggers & trigger points

What Causes A Knot In Your Back?

There are muscles in your back between the shoulder blade and spine called rhomboids. There is one on each side. The rhomboid muscles are often blamed for pain and knots in their area. Actually, that area can be the “symptom” and not the cause at all!

People (including professional massage therapists) often massage the rhomboid area trying to release the knot or pain there. If it doesn’t release (relax) the knot or pain, that means the cause is somewhere else.

Let’s pretend your back pain is a dragon. Sometimes Continue reading “What Causes A Knot In Your Back?”

November 29November 6

Do Legs Cause Migraine Headaches? What’s The Fix?

Migraines can be caused by having a short leg.

According to a study by the US Army, approximately one out of ten people have an actual leg length difference. Additionally, about one out of one hundred people have pelvic bones which are smaller on one side than the other side.

According to myofascial (muscle and soft tissue) pain experts and medical doctors, Travell and Simons, a leg length difference of 1/8 inch or more puts you at risk for pain and dysfunction. Why?

Because your body does things automatically to try to correct or adapt or accommodate that difference such as tilt, twist or rotate.

There are two types of “short legs.” Both can cause migraines.

One is an actual anatomical difference which could be caused by Continue reading “Do Legs Cause Migraine Headaches? What’s The Fix?”

November 23November 6

Massage and Pain Relief – Does Massage Help Get Rid Of Pain?

Massage therapy can be an excellent way to get rid of physical aches and pains. It’s likely that 90% of our pain and dysfunction is caused by muscles, according to at least one solid researcher, so it makes sense to help your muscles with massage.

If you have back pain or headaches or other pain, maybe you have already seen a massage therapist. Perhaps it helped a lot and perhaps it didn’t.

If your massage did not help much, you will Continue reading “Massage and Pain Relief – Does Massage Help Get Rid Of Pain?”

July 18November 7

Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome Can Be Tricky To Diagnose

I received an email recently and the writer told me she had “been kicked around from doctor to doctor for 2 years” before they came to the diagnosis of Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome (TTS). She has numbness and severe pain in one foot which may have come from an old injury. She wondered whether she will be able to get well again.

Of course, the earlier any pain is stopped in its tracks, the better the chances of a complete recovery.

Still, I believe in my heart that bodies are very smart and logical and capable of healing when they are given what they need. I love bodies! They want to be well. Sometimes they just need some help.

Here is part of my response to my reader.

“By now you have hopefully received my response by email. I’m glad you finally got a diagnosis. I suggested in the email several things you can do to start the process of healing.”

“It’s really too bad that Continue reading “Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome Can Be Tricky To Diagnose”

May 5November 7

When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away, Look For Trigger Points

If you have muscle pain or other symptoms that just aren’t going away with conventional (medical) treatment or with massage therapy, there’s a reason.

The reason could very well be “trigger points.”

Here’s an example: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is very often caused by trigger points in your muscles. The trigger points in this case are in the neck, upper chest, front of the arm and lower arm. They “fire,” or refer, pain into the area of the carpal tunnel in the wrist.

A “syndrome” is a collection of symptoms.

Symptoms are things like pain, numbness, tingling. If you can get rid of the symptoms, or the causes (triggers) of the symptoms, you get rid of the syndrome, too.

Trigger points are hyper-irritable (very irritated or crabby) areas of muscle. Trigger points can also be found in other soft tissues like skin and organs. Soft tissues are everything except our bones.

What do trigger points do?

They cause pain and symptoms in other parts of the body, sometimes at a far distance from the trigger point. This is called “referred” pain.

We ALL have the potential to have them, because we all have soft tissues.

When a nagging pain or symptom won’t go away with treatment, that most likely means that a trigger point is causing the pain and needs to be released.

Whatever caused the trigger point also needs to be corrected. Everything has a cause!

When I was making my notes for a recent Carpal Tunnel Radio show, I noticed a relationship between Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and trigger points: All of the things that cause trigger points also cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! And, so it is with a lot of our body pain.

A great deal of our pain and other uncomfortable symptoms are caused by trigger points.

Trigger points and muscles are largely overlooked by the medical community (your doctor) as a cause of pain. It’s just not widely taught in medical schools. In fact, very few doctors understand the roles of muscles in pain syndromes and fewer still understand trigger points.

Here are some of the things that cause (create) trigger points:

* abnormal bone structure that Continue reading “When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away, Look For Trigger Points”

March 5November 7

Trigger Points and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Trigger points are a type of really crabby spasm in your muscles or other soft tissues. Trigger points “trigger” (cause) pain and symptoms like weakness, tingling and numbness in other parts of your body, sometimes at quite a distance.

When I was getting a presentation ready about the causes of trigger points. I realized that the same things that cause trigger points also cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!

So what causes both trigger points and carpal tunnel symptoms? Here are seven causes:

Stress.
Allergies and chronic infections.
thyroid and blood disorders, like anemia.
Vitamin and mineral imbalances or deficiencies.
Doing repetitive movements, incorrectly.
Asymmetric bone structure: having one leg longer than the other or one-half of your pelvis being smaller than the other.
Forward-head posture or collapsing-forward posture. This is very common and it causes a lot of strain on your upper body muscles. Muscle strain can cause trigger points which “fire” into your hands, arms and wrists.

Certainly, you don’t have all of those, but you may have one or more.

It’s relatively easy to release your trigger points, once you know where there are “hiding out.”

You can go to Carpal Tunnel Radio to listen to a little 15-minute audio about “Carpal Tunnel Triggers” that I did on Thursday, March 5, 2009. It will give you a lot more information about triggers and trigger points for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

January 16November 8

Simple Pain Relief for Headaches & Migraines: Prevention

There are many causes for headaches. And some of us have sensitive neck muscles or nerves which make us prone to head pain.

Most of our pain problems are caused by muscles which are overstretched. They become taut, which is a type of tight. Trigger points develop. Trigger points are areas of tight muscle which cause pain elsewhere.

Common areas for trigger points which can cause headaches or head pain are in the muscles in the shoulders and neck. These muscles get overstretched because we spend ninety percent of our days with our heads and arms in front of us. The muscles in the front of our bodies shorten from this position. So the poor back and neck muscles get stretched all the time. They complain and ache. Sometimes they develop trigger points. Then we get head pain.

To avoid overstretching your shoulder and neck muscles, try these tips.

When standing, keep your head over your shoulders. Try not to let your head be in front of your body.

Don’t force your head backward. That will probably aggravate your muscles and may cause a headache. Rather, work to develop a curve in your low back toward your abdomen, which will allow your head to move over your shoulders without effort.

When seated, sit upright. Tuck a pillow behind your low back if you need support. Many chairs and couches and car seats make us recline. Then our heads move forward and our necks get strained. We get head pain.

Much of our pain can be eliminated when we understand how our wonderful bodies work, and when we understand what we can do to help ourselves.

I wrote Head Pain Natural Relief to help migraine and headache suffers have an easy-to-use, self-help, pain relief “bible”. It’s short and to the point with good illustrations. I had a ton of information to share and it’s all there.

You are at the right place.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”