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Manual Trigger Point Release
 Trigger points are small, precise points in the muscles that have a wide range of effects on the body's muscle system. A trigger point is officially defined as a point that refers pain to an area larger than the point itself. Often time the trigger point pain pattern can affect an entire area of the body. For example, there are trigger points in the neck that will affect an entire shoulder, arm and hand down one side of the body. The technique that I use to release trigger points is called direct pressure technique. I find the trigger point (which is more tender to the touch than the surrounding tissue), hold direct pressure (below the pain threshhold) and wait until the trigger point relaxes and the surrounding tissue softens. It is simplicity itself, but it is a very powerful approach to injury recovery and chronic pain patterns. It takes patience on the part of the therapist and the client, but affects an area of the body that far exceeds the point being worked on (as in the previous example, I would put direct pressure on the trigger point in the neck, the client would feel the discomfort pattern into the shoulder and down the arm into the hand. As the trigger point became desensitized, the pressure at the point would seem to reduce, and the referred discomfort would dissipate.) This technique is powerful because it not only affects the pain pattern that is being addressed, but it also engages the brain's responses to alter the body's neurological triggers to pain and injury. More on that subject under "The Splinting Response".
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HELPING HANDS FOR LYNNET MCKENZIE
One of our local massage therapists was in an auto accident 10 months ago. The accident ruptured a disc and pushed a bone spur into her spinal cord. The bone spur is putting so much pressure on the spinal cord that she is in extreme pain 24 hours a day if she does anything at all. If you live in the State of Oregon you can make a donation under her name, LYNNET MCKENZIE, at any US Bank. If you don't live in Oregon you can make a donation through this website for $5.00 and up. Funds (minus the PayPal transaction fee) will be transferred into the US Bank Donation account. If you choose I will email you with updates on how much we're raising, and how she is doing. HERE'S WHY THIS HAPPENED!!! The individual that hit her and injured her so severely was UNDERINSURED! They only carried a $25,000 liability insurance policy on their car. The surgery cost started at $60,000. The surgeon has waived his fee and has gotten the cost down to around $20,000. Even though it would seem there should be $25,000 available for the procedure, all of that money is actually already gone. She has been unable to work since the accident. She needed other medical procedures and treatment and pain medication. So, in reality, there is nothing. She doesn't have health insurance (a situation that is all too common for the self-employed individual).  Deep tissue is one of the massage techniques that I use once my client's trigger points have been desensitized to the point where deeper work isn't painful. Deep tissue means exactly that: working deep into the soft tissue of the body. There are several different techniques within deep tissue itself. Cross fiber is a way of loosening up the muscle where the tendon attaches to the bone by crossing the fibers, which heats them up, and allows the muscle fibers to realign, extending the muscle length, and taking pressure off the attachment site. Ironing is yet another deep tissue technique that helps to lengthen shortened muscles (effective after the cross fiber technique has accomplished its job). This technique should be nonpainful when done correctly. Deep myofascial rolling is a technique which I use sparingly. It can be
intense and painful, so I only use it for a very short period of time,
and only after we have explored other options that are less
uncomfortable.
PNF Technique
The Splinting Response
 When you are injured, a pain signal is sent to the brain, notifying your central nervous processing system that something has gone wrong. This signal generates a chemical response within the brain. It takes that information and sends an enzyme to the site of the pain signal to stiffen up the area to try and prevent further injury. This is called the "Splinting Response". It is a primitive and automatic response to pain. Now you have an area of the body that doesn't move like it should, because the hardened tissue literally becomes as hard as rock to the touch. This in turn affects the nearby tissue, and they start to complain, sending another pain signal to the brain, which, in turn, sends more enzyme to more tissue to stiffen it up, and on and on. Until something stops this process, it will continue. I have worked on some clients who had been in an auto accident 25 years previously, and their entire body had literally turned to the consistency of stone. The techniques that I use in my practice are done with this pain injury cycle in mind. I do not believe in creating more pain in my clients, because I do not want to activate the brain's pain response. I like to approach the pain threshhold (enough so that the brain is paying attention to the area), hold the pressure at that precise boundary, and then, as the trigger point begins to dissipate and the client feels as if the pressure I am using has lessened to the point that they can barely feel my presence, the brain receives the opposite signal; that an area that had been previously identified as injured may not be as injured as the brain thought it was. This, in turn, makes the brain send a different signal to the tissue to release the hardening enzyme, softening up the surrounding muscle and relaxing a much larger area than what I am actually touching. It is an amazing experience (from both the inside and the outside). I have noticed over the years that there is a small percentage of people who get a mild nausea reaction when this enzyme is flushed out of the system. By my estimation, it's around 4-5% of my clients over the years. Usually this mild nausea reaction is short lived, and only the first couple of session. Because of this, I highly recommend drinking water immediately after you receive a massage. |
1-541-267-4439
Combination Therapies
 When you combine the various techniques together, the sum is greater than the whole. As a massage therapist I am able to assist the body in recovering from chronic and acute pain syndromes by changing the muscle, altering the brain's chemical responses to pain, and reeducating the muscle and the nervous system. Healing is a process, and there is no one modality that addresses all issues for all people, but having several varying techniques that I am familiar and comfortable with means that whatever the circumstance, there is a high likelikhood that I can find an approach that will work with your body issues. We all hold tension throughout the day in different areas of our body (some of us dump tension in the neck and shoulders, and some the low back) but for those of you who have had a traumatic injury (e.g. motor vehicle accident, serious fall, broken bones) it goes beyond the usual harboring of daily tension, and more precise techniques than general massage and relaxation are usually needed.
Myofascial therapy is just that; a combination of trigger point and deep tissue work that helps in breaking chronic pain patterns and addressing acute pain issues. The longer someone has been in pain, generally the longer it takes to reverse the effects, so the sooner the issue is addressed, the faster the results. |
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Coos Bay, Or 97420 |
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