Category: Uncategorized

According to a new report by the Institute of Medicine, “Chronic pain affects an estimated 116 million American adults—more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined.” Chronic pain is defined as “severe pain that lasts 30 to 60 days or more and taxes one’s professional and private life.” (Time)  What is the cause of so much pain and suffering?  There is a good chance that myofascial trigger points may be to blame.Trigger Points are the cause of many types of pain (WebMD Video)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is a myofascial trigger point?

Myofascial trigger points are hyper-sensitive knots in skeletal muscle and fascial tissue.  The spot is painful with pressure and can cause referred pain–pain that manifests away from the trigger point site.  Trigger points are extremely common and are a primary cause of chronic pain.What causes a trigger point?
A trigger point forms in fascial tissue affected by mechanical stress or overload, which may be due to acute trauma, poor posture, repetitive movement, over-training, or inadequate sleep.  The affected tissue contracts (shortens) and blood flow can become restricted, leading to a metabolic backup; poor nutrient delivery and waste product build up within the tissue.  The build up of waste forms a toxic glue that adheres to surrounding tissue causing joint and movement restrictions, neurological impingement, and pain.

Trigger Point Symptoms
Trigger points cause motor dysfunction, stiffness, and restricted range of motion; resulting in overload to the central nervous system.  The neuromuscular system becomes stressed, causing weakness, fatigue, numbness, tingling, balance problems, headaches or migraines; chronic pain and injury; less efficient motor skill performance, and a long list of other symptoms. 

“The severity of symptoms caused by myofascial trigger points ranges from agonizing incapacitating pain caused by very active trigger points to the painless restriction of movement and distortion of posture due to latent trigger points that are so commonly overlooked.” (Travell & Simmons’)

Active trigger points can cause headaches, neck and jaw pain, or low back pain.  Often symptoms are misdiagnosed as arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, or a ligament injury.  Trigger points can also cause symptoms such as dizziness, earaches, sinusitis, nausea, heartburn, false heart pain, heart arrhythmia, genital pain, and numbness in the hands and feet.  Even painful disorders such as fibromyalgia have been connected to myofascial trigger points.

There is also an emotional toll to chronic pain.  Anxiety, stress, depression, anger, and fatigue often accompany chronicpain and affect one’s ability to cope in their daily life.
For a visual guide to trigger points check out The Trigger Point & Referred Pain Guide

“Prevention and treatment of chronic pain is often “delayed, inaccessible, or inadequate.” (ABC News)

 

[email_link]

[email_link]

Are you suffering from chronic pain in your back, neck, shoulders, or knees?  Deep tissue massage therapy can help.  Deep tissue massage utilizes a variety of techniques designed to alleviate symptoms of chronic pain, increase functional range of motion, and improve posture.

The goal of deep tissue massage therapy is to break down adhesions in the fascial tissue.  Adhesions are fibrous bands of scar tissue that bind together normally separate tissues.  Adhesions restrict the flow of blood, oxygen and waste products; limit joint range of motion; and are the primary cause of most soft-tissue pain and discomfort.  It is common for adhesions to form between fascial tissue and to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, or organs that it surrounds.

Adhesions are commonly caused by inflammation or injury due to an accident such as a fall or car crash; poor bio-mechanical movement patterns such as walking, running, or other highly repetitive activities; scar tissue from an old injury or surgery; lack of movement from sitting for long hours each day; or even the day to day stresses of life.

As adhesions are broken down, you will experience an increase in joint range of motion; reduction in the symptoms of pain and discomfort; and an improvement in the ability to maintain a healthy pain free posture.

Deep tissue massage can benefit anyone who is suffering from chronic pain, tight muscles, restricted range of motion, or stress.

Feel better with deep tissue massage therapy with Jesse James Retherford.

Jesse James Retherford is a certified personal trainer and licensed massage therapist.  For over 12 years, Jesse has been passionate about helping his clients reach their fitness and health goals.

Jesse specializes in chronic pain and injury management, movement assessment, corrective exercise, and advanced sports conditioning.

Jesse offers personalized programs designed to improve performance and efficiency, reduce chances of injury, and allow you to move pain free so you can re-engage fully with your life.

Homepage

Reposting is permitted as long as it is posted in its entirety, including links, and author’s bio.

 
[email_link]

Pain is not a bad thing.  It is not a good thing either. Pain is a form of communication our bodies have with us to tell us something is going on.  Sometimes it is from pushing ourselves to the extreme, the burn in our lungs and legs with a hard run or the two-day soreness from an intense strength training workout.  At other times, pain is telling us something is wrong.  The problem we encounter is not pain – it is our cultural disconnection from it.  We cushion ourselves from pain every day: with our shoes, in our beds, with our chairs, and with pharmaceutical pain relievers.  The moment pain enters our bodies we are searching for immediate ways to not feel it anymore.  This cultural disconnection has removed us from our greatest line of defense against experiencing unneeded pain over the length of our lives… the ability to listen and learn to what pain is telling us.

Pain may be a sign of underlying issues.

I have experienced a great deal of physical pain in my life.  The work I do today is founded from learning to manage the pain I felt in my life.  In the beginning, I would ignore pain, continue to push myself harder and overcome it.  This direction only led to more pain.  As I grew older and more experienced in my practice I learned a simple lesson: I could not run away from my pain.  The more I tried to ignore it, the larger it grew until I was absolutely forced to deal with it head on.  The longer I let the pain fester, the greater the injury I found beneath it and the longer it took to heal and recover from that injury.  I learned that pain is a signal of an underlying issue.  Pain does not happen without reason; there is always a root cause.  Find and fix the root cause of pain and the pain will be gone.  Fix the injury beneath and there is no reason for pain to exist.  Let the problem fester and the injury grows and the recovery becomes more challenging.  The sooner one focuses on their pain, the sooner they are on the fast path to recovery and living pain free.

Most pain comes from postural dysfunction.  It is the movements in our lives, or lack of movement, that causes pain.  Our bodies were designed to move with great ranges of motion; with power, strength, and endurance.  As a culture we do not use our bodies design purpose.  We lay or sit motionless for most of our lives.  We sit for long hours each day: in school, college, work, in our cars, on our couches and then in our beds.  This lack of movement wreaks havoc on our posture.  Over time our posture molds to the movement patterns, or lack thereof, we utilize the most.  By not utilizing the functional design of our bodies we create injury within our posture.  Over time this postural injury creates pain to let us know that something is wrong.  Or bodies use pain to signal that something needs to change in our lives or the problem will get worse.

The tools to treat most pain are inexpensive and readily available.

With a foam roller, softball (or other massage tools), full body flexibility program, and an exercise program that incorporates functional movement patterns, the chronic pains associated with postural dysfunction can be managed very effectively.

[email_link]

Jesse James Retherford is a certified personal trainer and licensed massage therapist.  For over 12 years, Jesse has been passionate about helping his clients reach their fitness and health goals.

Jesse specializes in chronic pain and injury management, movement assessment, corrective exercise, and advanced sports conditioning.

Jesse offers personalized programs designed to improve performance and efficiency, reduce chances of injury, and allow you to move pain free so you can re-engage fully with your life.

Homepage

Reposting is permitted as long as it is posted in its entirety, including links, and author’s bio.

What is Fascia?

Fascia is a continuous web of connective tissue that exists throughout your body. Your muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and organs are connected through this web, binding these structures together and creating a three-dimensional matrix that connects you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. It consists of several layers: a superficial fascia, a deep fascia, and a subserous fascia. For the purpose of this discussion, I will talk about deep fascia.

Deep fasciae are tough, dense connective tissues surrounding individual muscle fibers, muscle bundles, and groups of muscles. Fascia shares many of the same properties as muscle, allowing it to contract, relax, and hold tension, just like muscle tissue. Fascial tissues are full of nerves — including sensory receptors to detect pain — and also play an important role in movement derived from muscles, tendons, and joints (proprioception).

Imagine plastic wrap. Your muscles are wrapped tightly in multiple directions by these fasciae. The interconnected nature of fasciae means tightness in one area of your body can be directly connected to painful areas in a completely different area.

What is fascial pain?

Healthy fasciae are relaxed, pliable, elastic and flexible. When you are healthy, your fasciae can absorb the forces that are created when you move.

With trauma or repetitive use injury, adhesions and scar tissue form in the fasciae. When you experience trauma — from a fall or accident or through repetitive strain — the surrounding areas become tight and restricted, affecting range of motion and stability throughout the body. Points of restriction in the fasciae place pressure on nerves, bones, muscles, and adjacent fasciae, causing chronic pain.

Fascial pain is probably the most common cause of musculoskeletal pain (Imamura et al 1997 as cited by Starlanyl and Copeland 1996, Starlanyl 2003, and Javaid 2010). If you are experiencing acute or chronic pain, fascial dysfunction may be the underlying cause of your symptoms.

Deep Tissue Fascial Massage

Deep tissue fascial massage therapy is a form of soft tissue therapy used to treat pain and restore range of motion. This is accomplished using traction, stretching or direct pressure; relaxing contracted muscles; increasing circulation; increasing venous and lymphatic drainage; and stimulating the stretch reflex of muscles and overlying fasciae.

The end result is fasciae that are softened and stretched, with the release of painful knots.

References

Imamura, S.T., T.Y. Lin, M.J. Yriyrits, S.S. Fischer, R.J. Azze, L. A. Rosgano and R. Mahar. 1997. The importance of myofascial pain syndrome in reflex sympathetic dystrophy.” Physical Medicine and Rehabitation Clinics of North America. 8:207-211.

Javaid, Ahmad. Myofascial pain: Understanding the Injury Process. 2010. http://ahmadjavaid.com/myofascial%20pain.htm

Starlanyi, Devin J., and Mary Ellen Copeland, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Survival Manual. 2001. Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Survival Manual. http://www.friendswithfibro.org/mps.html

Starlanyi, Devin. 2003. Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: Keys to Diagnosis and Treatment. http://homepages.sover.net/~devstar/physinfo.htm

Ward, Patrick. 2010. Notes on Fascia. http://optimumsportsperformance.com/blog/?p=133
[email_link]