I have mid & low back MPS. I have the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair & Amber Davies from the library. On Amazon I saw the Trigger Point Therapy for Low Back Pain by Sharon Sauer & Mary Biancalana

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1572245638/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Has anybody seen this or have it? I think it might be better for my MPS as it's specific to my area & might be more detailed.

Dal- thanks for the link, I too have MPS in my thoracic and lower back.

Bump for Lizzyear.

I put a post up about this book. I have just got it from Amazon & have just started reading it & have flipped through it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Back-Pain/dp/1572245638/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347208287&sr=1-1-spell

I'm a relative beginner but if you want specific info about MPS in the low back it's more detailed than the Clair & Amber Davies book. It goes through all the relevant muscles involved: Iliopsoas, paraspinals, rectus abdoinis, quadratus lumborum, gluteus maximum, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus etc. It gives stretches & exercises to do for each.

My issue is mid-low back & I find it more informative for my issues. Just thought I'd mention it as you never know in detail what you're going to get 'till you've paid your money!

Dalhousie - thanks for the book reference, it looks really interesting, couldn't resist ordering one

Thanks for the update, I hadn't ordered yet.

Whilst looking at the book Dalhousie suggested I stumbled on another one called Prescriptive Stretching by Kristian Berg. http://www.amazon.com/Prescriptive-Stretching-Kristian-Berg/dp/0736099360/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347575363&sr=1-1&keywords=prescriptive+stretching

It's a really good book, and describes all sorts of stretches with the most delightful illustrations - possibly the best ones I've seen in quite some time.

I got it hoping to find something new (desperation, we all get it now and then) but 'only' found reassurance that what I'm doing with my stretches are the right thing. The stretches in the book are the ones taught to me on the pain management programme that helped me recover the first time. The only difference is that any of the stretches where there's a hand 'pulling or controlling' the stretch - like on the front cover's neck stretch - I don't force the stretch like that.

If anyone's looking for a simple yet damn good stretching regime this book is a very good place to start. And, for good measure, try holding the stretch for only 5 seconds to start with, do that for a week, and then begin to increase by 1 second every day/night to a maximum of 15 seconds.

It's a very, very good way to start getting the muscles to begin to move in the right way.

...plus the pictures are really good, and beautifully drawn, making it a very tactile book to have....

Let me try that link once more:

http://www.amazon.com/Prescriptive-Stretching-Kristian-Berg/dp/0736099360/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347575363&sr=1-1&keywords=prescriptive+stretching

Still a bit rubbish. Oh well, weird gremlins on amazon.

A manual search of amazon for 'Prescriptive stretching in books' will take you to the book, it's not a hard thing to do

:)

Hi Pumpkin - I'm very interested in finding a good stretching book. I have a fair bit of instrumentation in my spine - my paraspinals are very tight but doing trigger point massage is just not do-able due to the metalwork there. I'm relying on stretching to help me. I can't see any stretches on the contents page (on Amazon) for the paraspinal muscles though - I'm surprised at that. I thought it would have included all the major muscles especially in the back.

My quadratus lumborum is also affected & there are stretches for that in the book.

Hi Dalhousie,

I almost started this in a new thread, because your case seems to warrant it, to try and tease out all the issues and offer help and support. However, I'll stay on track (for once) and lets talk stretching :)

I've spent ages looking for stretches that help the paraspinals, and not only couldn't I find them I couldn't find the paraspinals! It took ages, they're just not mentioned in most textbooks. And yet they're really quite important.

And then I finally found this: http://www.livestrong.com/article/537055-stretches-for-thoracic-paraspinal-muscles/ which gives some clear and importantly gentle exercises.

Plus there's also this: http://www.painclinic.org/home-exerciseebook.htm and if you download the exercise booklet you can flick through the stretches and put together your own treatment plan. The stretches here correlate to the one's in the book.

With everything you've described so far I would suggest you go slow and gentle. It sounds like everything is in high flare up and I wouldn't suggest actual trigger point massage at all at the moment. The muscles need to calm down first. The most I'd suggest would be gently rubbing the area, hopefully with a nice massage oil or homeopathic cream like arnica, rhus tox or copper. Anything to help calm it down, but definately no deep massage or trigger point work. Not yet.

My case is very complicated because I've had fusion surgery at L1/2 which is at the center of the myofascial problem. I've an appointment to see the spinal surgeon on 3rd October to see what he thinks about the rod & 2 screws that might be irritating my myofascia in that area. I know of other people this has happened to & they've been OK when they've had them removed. I need to eliminate that from the equation because if it is the instrumentation causing the problem my muscle issues won't settle until they're out.

I hadn't found many paraspinal stretches only this one:

http://www.pressurepointer.com/Thoracic_trigger_points.htm

In the back of that book I posted about earlier there are quite a few stretching exercises at the back of the book for all the different muscle groups in the low back area.

I tried to download the pain clinic exercise booklet but my computer reckons it's a risk so when I have the time & my brain is in gear I'll try to alter the settings on my Norton anti-virus software.

The minute I'd closed down the computer the postman knocked on the door with the latest books that I'd ordered. One is 'Trigger Point Therapy for Low Back Pain'.

It's the book recommended a few posts back and it's by Sharon Sauer, who worked closely with Janet Travell and David Simons, the originators of the 'big red books' that are the bible on trigger point.

And more importantly, it has a whole chapter on the paraspinals! And it's so detailed, a good 20 pages.

I can't possibly replicate that much information, but a few things popped out.
-Use heat on your back + abdomen muscles, several times a day
-Make sure you're in an upright, neutral, supported and relaxed when seated
-Don't maintain any single position (seated or standing) for long periods (it also recommends doing the range of motion exercises from later in the book, "this is one of the most important ways to help your paraspinal muscles")

And in relation to treatment:
-Always warm the area before doing any work on it
-Always treat both sides (both sides work together)
-Work on the abdominal muscles too (v important, apparently)
-Never exceed a pain level of 6 on a scale of 1-10
-After treatment and stretching, do the range of motion exercises for p-spinals later in the book
-Doing the 'standing toe touch' is really good; every time you bend to touch your toes, the paraspinals stretch, the contract to bring you back up again.

Plus there's a section for practitioners, and it says "When patients are in acute pain, it may be almost impossible for them to tolerate much stretching or manual compression of any kind. In these circumstances, your first task is to desentsitize the painful areas. Warm Fomenteck (?) or Mother Earth {??) pillows may be helpful, and spray and stretch treatment can be particularly useful. It's also imperative to limit the amount of time you have the person in any one position. Vary positions and use support bolsters and pillows for their comfort. Use heat, especially when stretching and immediately after spray and stretch treatment."

Plus "Daily treatment is usually needed to gain the upper hand with pain due to trigger points in the paraspinals, so your patients will benefit greatly from self care"

I think anymore and I might be braking copyright laws, lol! But it is a great book. (Graston therapy really sounds like a bad idea for the paraspinals, having read about them both, something a bit gentler might be better)

Hope your appointment goes well

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