Muscle The Neglected Organ

The following is an excerpt written by David G. Simons, M.D., from the Forward of The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, 2nd Edition, by Clair Davies, NCTMB:

Muscle is an orphan organ. No medical specialty claims it. As a consequence, no medical specialty is concerned with promoting funded research into the muscular causes of pain, and medical students and physical therapists rarely receive adequate primary training in how to recognize and treat myofascial trigger points. Fortunately, massage therapists, although rarely well trained medically, are trained in how to find myofascial trigger points and frequently become skilled in their treatment.

Since there is no well-established body of research on this subject, there is no recognized etiology. Nevertheless, a credible hypothesis based on solid scientific research is available to serve as a model for further research to clarify the nature of myofscial trigger points. Much research needs to be done on this neglected subject.

It is becoming increasingly clear that nearly all fybromyalgia patients have myofascial trigger points that are contributing significantly to their total pain problem. Some patients are diagnosed as having fybromyalgia when in fact they only have much more treatable multiple trigger points. Inactivation of the trigger points of fibromyalgia patients requires especially delicate and skilled treatment.

Skilled clinicians recognize myofascial trigger points as the most common cause of ubiquitous enigmatic musculoskeletal pain, but finding a truly skilled practitioner can be frustratingly difficult. The guidance in The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, 2nd Edition, can serve practitioners who have yet to understand the nature of their own musculoskeletal pain and can also benefit patients who are unable to find a practitioner adequately skilled in this ignored problem.

There is no substitute for learning how to control your own musculoskeletal pain. Treating myofascial trigger points yourself addresses the source of that kind of common pain and is not just a way of temporarily relieving it.