• Trigger points can cause pain and stiffness anywhere in your body
• Discover this Little Known (but very common) Cause of Muscle Pain
• Find out how release them in 90 Seconds

• Researched in the sixties by Dr Janet Travell and Dr David Simons.
• Travell was President Kennedy’s physician and helped him with severe and chronic back pain.
• Together, Travell and Simons mapped all the trigger points and their pain referral patterns.

A Trigger Point = a very small area of SPASM within your muscle.

The trigger point can be latent (not in spasm, but with potential – like a dormant volcano) or active (spasmed and painful.)

Some people have a few active trigger points, some people have dozens.

Click here to watch a video
explaining Trigger Points

If you have pain – say a sore shoulder – there will be one main trigger point – that’s the primary trigger point.

Often there will also be a group of active secondary trigger points – the satellite trigger points.

Treating the primary trigger point will reduce the pain, but it’s important to switch off all the satellite triggers for full pain relief.

Primary + Secondary Points

Trigger point pain is similar to a very long list of common problems. However, they are often ignored as a possible source of pain.

In addition, trigger points get switched on by pain – so they could also exist as a secondary problem to a prolapsed disc (for instance.)

Here are some problems trigger point pain can mimic:

Ischemic Pressure
This technique involves putting gentle pressure on the trigger point for 90-120 seconds.

This briefly cuts off blood supply to the trigger, interrupting the feedback loop that keeps the muscle in spasm.

When done correctly, this technique should be comfortable and painless.

• 1. Find the trigger point with your hands. Feel for a tight band within the muscle that – when pressed on, recreates your pain pattern.
• 2. Reduce pressure until you feel no pain. Then, over the next 90-120 seconds, threshold of pain.
• 3. By the end of this time, you should feel that the trigger point (felt as a thickening in the tight band of the muscle) is no longer there.

Link to watch video

Hot & Cold
This was one of the original Travell methods. Again, the aim is to interrupt the message that is telling your muscle to stay in a protective spasm.

This time, the message is interrupted by applying cold and then heat to the area.

• 1. Moving at about 1 inch per second, move the cold pack from the trigger point into the pain zone
• 2. Do this twice, then apply heat for 2-3 minutes.
• 3. Stretch

Myofascial Release
This technique involves releasing the fascia – or connective tissue that overlies the muscles.

This time, the message is interrupted by applying cold and then heat to the area.

• 1. Find the trigger point. Start with your fingers parallel to the muscle fibers point into the pain zone
• 2. Gradually move your hands away from each other, moving 1/4 inch per 15-20 seconds
• 3. Once your hands are around 3 inches apart, the myofascial release is completed.

Myofascial Release

Dry Needling
This technique can be very effective. It allows pinpoint accuracy and is good for reaching deep muscles.

To dry needle a trigger point, typically acupuncture needles are used. The practitioner searches for the trigger point with their hands.

Once the trigger point is found, the needle is inserted. The therapist is trying to get a ‘twitch’ response. Literally, the muscle twitches when the needle is accurately inserted into the trigger point.

The needle is then left in for 30 seconds to five minutes, during which time the trigger is switched off.

Dry Needling

Trigger Point Injection
This is similar to dry needling, except that instead of using an
acupuncture needle, the practitioner uses an injection needle.

Various substances can be injected into the muscle where the trigger point is located. The most common substance is local anaesthetic.

Trigger point injections can be very useful for long term pain relief and deactivating deep and entrenched trigger points.