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Massage Triggerpoint Amp ART

• Fitness benefits of massage

• Everything you don't know about triggerpoint therapy is in this book.

• According to Doctors Janet Travell and David Simons in their widely acclaimed medical textbook, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, myofascial trigger points are tiny knots that develop in a muscle when it is injured or overworked. The defining symptom of a trigger point is referred pain; that is, trigger points usually send their pain to some other site. This is the reason conventional treatments for pain so often fail. It's a mistake to assume that the problem is at the place that hurts! Travell and Simons' research has shown that trigger points are the primary cause of pain seventy-five percent of the time and are at least a part of nearly every pain problem. Read more of this overview on triggerpoints here.

• You can do-it-yourself massage using a foam roller -- cheap and always on hand. This is the full discussion with links to how-to information and where to get yours.

Read this simple but comprehensive guide to foam rolling by Mike Boyle first.

• First stop: Getting started with foam roller rehab work.

• Download the 8-page foam roller exercise instruction pdf from Perform Better here and order a foam roller here from Perform Better, or here, from Elite Fitness. Larger folks, don't skimp on price; the cheaper white one will cave in on you after a couple month's use. By then you'll be hooked and will have to go out and spring for a second one.

Triggerpoint is pretty specific and some massage therapists don't know how to do it, either how to find the spots, to make it hurt and to stick with that particular spot for a long time, a minute... three minutes. There's quite a bit of misunderstanding, and in fact, some crossover, between sports massage, triggerpoint and active release therapy (ART). When I first had this done on my shoulder about ten years ago, the chiropractor who introduced me to it (God bless him!) called it ART, when it was actually triggerpoint. I've never had or seen ART done.

If you can't find someone locally, maybe you should spring for a full triggerpoint therapy kit. I've been rolling around on a foam roller for a year or two, and it helps a lot. But it's hard to get to certain spots or to put enough pressure on the triggerpoint with the roller. Using the smaller triggerpoint unit (they call it the footballer), I can get the full length of my arm from the shoulder down, front, side and back, and using the massage ball, I can get the back of the shoulder blades. Ya really gotta roll around on the floor some, maybe shed a few tears in the process, but it works. And really, the cost is only 2-3 massages, so in the end having the tools that you can use at home forever... big picture, it's not *that* expensive.

• If you haven't tried Active Release Therapy (aka ART) yet, you're in for some hurtn' relief. Of The ART of Healing - An interview with Dr Wan, I quote from the beginning:

If I told you there was a type of therapy that could in some cases heal you in one session, relieve your muscle pain, eliminate muscle tightness and restore your body back to its proper balance, would you believe me? Probably not. But that’s because you haven’t heard of a soft tissue treatment called ART. Nor have you had it performed on your body. If you have, then you’ll know just how great this treatment is and what it can do for your body. ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system / movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

This stuff's magic. No kidding.

From Kinetic Loop Training, here's How to Build Your Own Foam Roller.