Myofascial Pain Syndrome Support Group

I'm sorry you're in so much pain right now. I hope yo will find relief. When I was in Physical Therapy they also spent time, as needed, releasing trigger points. That helped as much as the exercises.

Hi Tink,
Many of us respond negatively to exercise. If you are exercising muscles that don't have myofascial pain, then it seems to be okay, because you don't have TrPs in those muscles. Look back at some of the other posts on exercise and you will find a wealth of responses on this issue. I continually refer back to Devin Starlanyl's book Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain, but it is the most comprehensive book on these conditions that I am aware of. She states, "I have seen more people with active TrPs become disabled by repetitive motion exercises and inappropriate physical therapy than from anything else." This has been my experience because many PTs don't understand myofascial pain and they are taught in school to strengthen, so that is what they do. Yet according to Devin, "You cannot strengthen a muscle with a trigger point". It's the TrPs that seem to set us apart from people with regular pain, which responds to exercise. As imKarenM mentioned, releasing the trigger points needs to be part of your program. Devin also points out that "The patient has to be out of pain for two weeks and have a normal range of motion or close to a normal range of motion for two weeks" before any strengthening exercises should be introduced. Hope you can find someone to deactivate your trigger points. Look for a Bonnie Prudden trained Myotherapist www.bonniepruden.com or a trigger point therapist www.namtpt.shuttlepod.org . I certainly understand your frustration because I was hurt by several PTs until I found Devin's book. If you have The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies, you can work on your TrPs at home. Also, moist heat helps me when I'm in a "flare". Hang in there. Kat

I found Trigger Point Therapy has helped me the most, Also ice pack and heat.

Hi - my experience with exercise is different, I do find it to help, ESPECIALLY the muscles with trigger points in them. However, the exercises I do are focused more on stretching than strength. At first, exercise did make it worse. This makes sense - trigger points usually develop due to deconditioning - lack of exercise. And when you first start to exercise them they will be sore, just like whenever you exercise muscles more than usual (what is generally called being stiff). But after a month or two of daily exercise I found it to help me a lot. Now I feel much better, immediately after exercising. If I go a day or two without, I start to feel worse. The other thing I find helpful is a styrofoam roll. I put it on the ground and roll over it with the sore muscles in my back and neck and it helps release the trigger points in between visits. Does anyone else do this? and, I also use heat.

Just had to add. i had my PT appointment yesterday and my triggers decided to have a flare up, been going well the last 3 weeks with minor pain, then with no reason pain was back, my PT has never forced exercise on to me, actually its the last thing he recommends, apart from the walking as it helps the blood flow, he works on my triggers and knows that to much PT or other therapies will send my triggers into overload, yesterday we did an excercise I held a broom handle lying on my belly with arm out as far as i could go then just gently moving it back and forwards with each movement he manipulated my trigger and i was amazed by the 10th go i could stretch right up with out hardly any pain, this for me was truelt amazing feeling. bit sore today but he did warn me about that, so in that He is truely an amazing PT with great experiance and now he will be seeing ym son, who is having botox at the end of the month in hamis and calf for mild cp, look forward to his involvement!
Cel :-)

I have also had such frustrating experiences with exercise over the years since this pain began (and it really flared up in the beginning due to exercise -- after a divorce when i was 35, I went thorugh a whole midlife overdoing it fitness craze that included running a 5K, rollerblading, tennis and personal traning -- then my body broke down).

I've never been able to find the right balance of too much and too little when it comes to exercise. I tried swimming for the very first time yestrday, for example, but I didn't feel great this morning...sore in new muscles, same pain in the usual places. It felt good in the moment though, just to move through the water. I might have just gone too far with it on the first day.