Myofascial Pain Syndrome Support Group
Myofascial Pain Syndrome (or MPS) is a term used to describe one of the conditions characterized by chronic pain. It is associated with and caused by "trigger points" (TrPs), sensitive and painful areas between the muscle and fascia. The symptoms can range from referred pain through myofascial trigger points to specific pains in other areas of the body. It may be related...
I used to have myofascial pain syndrome. I no longer have it and love helping people get rid of it. It is so very sad that so many people are so often mis-diagnosed, mis managed and harmed with mis-treatment of myofascial pain. Most people could eliminate it from the get-go if they got proper treatment when it started!
I stumbled on this group looking for something else. I replied to a post, but thought it would be helpful if I started a new thread, so here goes.
I am not able to stop in very often, but I will try to answer questions here for all to read.
I am actually a certified myofascial trigger point therapist. I am actually the PR person for the only organization that is dedicated to representing professionals whose primary training is focused on identification and treatment of myofascial pain and dysfunction. I would be happy to answer questions, but to make it simple, i will post the reply that I send when people contact me from our website http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/. There is a symptom checker there, which you might find helpful too.
Below find my reply:
Sadly the training programs are few and far between, this means there are not enough well trained therapists. You will find them listed in the "member directory that can be found athttp://www.myofascialtherapy.org/. You will see a blue box on the left side. Hopefully you may be able to see someone close to you in that listing.
Here are the suggestions that i send people when they have come up with no MTPT in their area.
I have had people drive long distances for treatment. Maybe even consider taking a vacation in the place where there is a therapist that sounds very helpful to you. The advantage to that is that once a professional finds the trigger points and you understand what they feel like and where they are, you can better treat yourself.
If it is a possibility for you, consider traveling to a therapist and getting several treatments. Set up the appointments so that the therapist knows you are going to want to spend a lot of the time on ways that you can treat yourself when you go home. Bring a friend that is willing to learn some simple techniques with you.
There are tools such as my favorite:
The Backnobberhttp://www.pressurepositive.com/ comes with a book and a tool that I can say may have saved my life. I was in a lot of pain 15 years ago, this tool is very very helpful.
You can also email the therapists on the directory list and ask if they know of anyone close to you if they are not close enough. There may be someone that they know that is good, but not in our organization. Another possibility is to send me another note and I will post your request on our professional email group which includes some therapist that are not on the website listing.
You may also find some help by joining the myotherapy yahoo group:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/grou... On this group there are other folks with myofascial pain and therapists that are doing trigger point work. You can ask questions and request help. This group is not affiliated with the NAMTPT in any way.
You may tryto find a therapist at
http://www.myopainseminars.com/semi...
http://www.bonnieprudden.com/helpli...
http://www.nmtcenter.com/practitioner/
www.painschool.com
www.myopain.com
therapyworksonline.com
American Institute for Myofascial Studies
Hands-on Seminars
http://homepages.sover.net/~devstar...
fibromyalgia and myofascial pain
There are some doctors that understand trigger points well and are addressing trigger points as a very possible cause of your pain:
http://www.painreliefhome.net/
Our website also lists several training programs and you might try contacting them for a lead.
I can't personally vouch for any practitioners listed in these sites but it is a good start.Ask them about their training. I hope this helps.
Another possibility is to come to the training programs yourself or encourage a friend or loved one to do so. That may sound far-reaching, but that is actually what most of us have done. So many MTPT where having pain themselves (some debilitating) and found it so extremely helpful that we changed our lives and went to school to learn to help ourselves and others! (part of class is working on each other)
You can also look for books by
**Sharon Sauer CMTPT, Mary Biancalana CMTPT (myopain.com) Trigger Point Therapy for Low Back Pain: A Self-treatment Workbook (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-57224-563-1The book listed above is the ONLY Harbinger Press Trigger Point book written by Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists!
Donna Finando Trigger Point Self-Care Manual
Valerie Delaune Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches & Migraines: Your Self-Treatment Workbook for Pain Relief (Paperback)
Claire Davies Trigger Point Therapy Workbook and Frozen Shoulder Workbook... big help for self care.
We also have several therapists in the organization writing books, so in the future you will be seeing more and more well written books on the subject.
Self care tools and books http://www.pressurepositive.com/
Posture correcting insoles : http://www.mortonsfoot.com
Please let me know if I can help you further or if you are having problems. cmtpt@zbzoom.net
I stumbled on this group looking for something else. I replied to a post, but thought it would be helpful if I started a new thread, so here goes.
I am not able to stop in very often, but I will try to answer questions here for all to read.
I am actually a certified myofascial trigger point therapist. I am actually the PR person for the only organization that is dedicated to representing professionals whose primary training is focused on identification and treatment of myofascial pain and dysfunction. I would be happy to answer questions, but to make it simple, i will post the reply that I send when people contact me from our website http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/. There is a symptom checker there, which you might find helpful too.
Below find my reply:
Sadly the training programs are few and far between, this means there are not enough well trained therapists. You will find them listed in the "member directory that can be found athttp://www.myofascialtherapy.org/. You will see a blue box on the left side. Hopefully you may be able to see someone close to you in that listing.
Here are the suggestions that i send people when they have come up with no MTPT in their area.
I have had people drive long distances for treatment. Maybe even consider taking a vacation in the place where there is a therapist that sounds very helpful to you. The advantage to that is that once a professional finds the trigger points and you understand what they feel like and where they are, you can better treat yourself.
If it is a possibility for you, consider traveling to a therapist and getting several treatments. Set up the appointments so that the therapist knows you are going to want to spend a lot of the time on ways that you can treat yourself when you go home. Bring a friend that is willing to learn some simple techniques with you.
There are tools such as my favorite:
The Backnobberhttp://www.pressurepositive.com/ comes with a book and a tool that I can say may have saved my life. I was in a lot of pain 15 years ago, this tool is very very helpful.
You can also email the therapists on the directory list and ask if they know of anyone close to you if they are not close enough. There may be someone that they know that is good, but not in our organization. Another possibility is to send me another note and I will post your request on our professional email group which includes some therapist that are not on the website listing.
You may also find some help by joining the myotherapy yahoo group:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/grou... On this group there are other folks with myofascial pain and therapists that are doing trigger point work. You can ask questions and request help. This group is not affiliated with the NAMTPT in any way.
You may tryto find a therapist at
http://www.myopainseminars.com/semi...
http://www.bonnieprudden.com/helpli...
http://www.nmtcenter.com/practitioner/
www.painschool.com
www.myopain.com
therapyworksonline.com
American Institute for Myofascial Studies
Hands-on Seminars
http://homepages.sover.net/~devstar...
fibromyalgia and myofascial pain
There are some doctors that understand trigger points well and are addressing trigger points as a very possible cause of your pain:
http://www.painreliefhome.net/
Our website also lists several training programs and you might try contacting them for a lead.
I can't personally vouch for any practitioners listed in these sites but it is a good start.Ask them about their training. I hope this helps.
Another possibility is to come to the training programs yourself or encourage a friend or loved one to do so. That may sound far-reaching, but that is actually what most of us have done. So many MTPT where having pain themselves (some debilitating) and found it so extremely helpful that we changed our lives and went to school to learn to help ourselves and others! (part of class is working on each other)
You can also look for books by
**Sharon Sauer CMTPT, Mary Biancalana CMTPT (myopain.com) Trigger Point Therapy for Low Back Pain: A Self-treatment Workbook (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-57224-563-1The book listed above is the ONLY Harbinger Press Trigger Point book written by Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists!
Donna Finando Trigger Point Self-Care Manual
Valerie Delaune Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches & Migraines: Your Self-Treatment Workbook for Pain Relief (Paperback)
Claire Davies Trigger Point Therapy Workbook and Frozen Shoulder Workbook... big help for self care.
We also have several therapists in the organization writing books, so in the future you will be seeing more and more well written books on the subject.
Self care tools and books http://www.pressurepositive.com/
Posture correcting insoles : http://www.mortonsfoot.com
Please let me know if I can help you further or if you are having problems. cmtpt@zbzoom.net
Trigger point injections can be very helpful, but please be aware that very few of the docs doing them actually have any training in WHERE the trigger points are that are CAUSING your pain. If they are putting the injection WHERE it hurts most, 70% of the time, they are WRONG!
Dry needling is also very effective if the person is skilled in fining the right trigger point. EVERYONE has lots of trigger points and just because someone finds a hurty spot dose not mean they found the right one. Does pressing on it, refer pain to the area of concern? If so, they are on it!
The best book on my list is the "low back" one, it is written by 2 Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist with a clinic in Chicago.
John Barnes myofascial release therapy did wonders for the pain -- I still do it every 2-4 weeks -- but, like trigger point therapy, it is passive, not active, and not long-lasting.
My underlying structural issues -- hypermobility/lax ligaments/hypomobility of thoracic spine -- led me to rehabilitative-based Pilates, alignment-based yoga and somatics-based work such as Feldenkrais and Hanna Somatics. I have had major, major success but it is a long-term commitment -- it took me several years and, I admit, plenty of money to get to this point, with the most success over the past year. I am now training to become a Pilates/movement instructor specializing in chronic myofascial pain and hypermobility issues.
I feel better now than i ever did even before I developed the painful myofascial symptoms.
Remember that trigger points do not appear out of nowhere like a sudden unidentified growth on your back. There are reasons behind them appearing, whether it's postural issues, stress, alignment problems, lots of driving/sitting, hypermobility/hypomobility, poor movement patterns, an accident, etc.
It can be a long journey to find out what those reasons are, and in the meantime pain relief is certainly essential, but it's a journey worth taking.
For me, trigger point therapy didn't solve my myofascial pain. After years of passive treatments such as Myotherapy (Bonnie Prudden trigger point therapy), myofascial release, Active Release, osteopathic, trigger point injections, and chiropractic, my trigger points always returned and any overuse of the muscles increased my pain. These treatments kept me functioning, but weren't solving the problem. I have major structual and muscle imbalances, including hypermobility and as Sharon mentioned, the passive treatments don't last if you have perpetuating factors that are not being addressed. I guess it will solve myofascial pain for people who don't have other perpetuating factors. For people like me, these other modalities supplement my rehabilitation program (Egoscue) that is addressing the perpetuating factors, my structural and muscular imbalances.
Again, thanks for your post. Kat
There is no treatment that works for everyone and each therapist is different also. Many times we need several big changes. A therapist and patient could both work very hard to relieve pain, but if the person will not correct the perpetuating factors there will not be long term relief. This could be anything from nutrition or self poisoning or food sensitivities to birth defects, disease, structural imbalance, poorly designed work space, or even the fact that some therapist years back gave the person a heal lift when they didnt need it......