Cure Pain Through Trigger Point Massage

Yes, lasting pain relief can be gained from trigger point massage.  It seems hard to believe, but by massaging the trigger points in your muscles you can get your muscles to relax and stop being painful.

The premise behind this treatment is simple: your muscles are tight, tense, and hard at specific points, and filled with waste products.  When they are hard they cause pain where they are sometimes when they are tense and sometimes refer pain to other places.

There are three main ways to treat trigger points: injection, massage, and deep needling.  Injection used to be popular in the seventies, but his procedure has complications and must be performed by a doctor.  With needling, you have a circumstance similar to acupuncture where you take a needle and lightly poke it into the muscle.  This too requires a specialized doctor.

Fortunately, trigger point massage is an excellent solution!  You can do it yourself at home and you just need to know where your trigger points are.

I warn you, since you probably have chronic elbow pain if you read this, some of your muscles will be really tight.  Like, REALLY TIGHT AND PAINFUL!  Not fun to massage.

Once you’ve found your trigger points with the Trigger Point Index, massage them with 12-15 strokes trying to go for a pain level of 6 or 7 on a scale of 1-10 (1= no pain, 10=unbearable pain).  Try doing this all during the day, so that you go intensely for a little bit and let it rest.

If you have had these trigger points for a long time, they will get really irritated when you first massage them.  Your elbow pain may get just a little better, but suddenly the place you were massaging feels really painful.  That’s ok.  The pain where you are massaging at your trigger points will get more noticeable before your whole body gets better.

If the place where you are massaging becomes painful to the lightest touch and you can’t do any more massage because of the pain, let it rest for a few days while your body adjusts to begin able to use your muscle again.

A good way to keep track of your progress is to chart your pain.  Before you start your trigger point massage, make a note of what the pain in your elbow is like when at rest and when you are using it (on 1-10 scales), and how painful your trigger point location is.  Then, as the days go by you can chart your progress.

Incidentally, heat also works to relax your muscles and can be effective in treating trigger points, especially if you try massaging while in the bath.  If hot water helps your condition I’d bet good money that your pain is trigger point related.  On a side note, this is also one reason why so many old people like really hot baths and say that this helps alleviate the pain in their limbs.

I know that it was amazing when I was able to look back and lift a cup of tea without pain in my elbow.  Such a small milestone, but it was almost enough to make me cry.  To know that you’re getting better and that it’s all your own work is truly a wonderful thing.  Keep track of your progress, keep rubbing your body, and you can get rid of your pain through trigger point massage.

• Trigger Points can Cure Tennis Elbow?
• The Tennis Elbow Trigger Point Index