Hey there Guys. Today I was introduced to trigger point therapy by my physiotherapist.
Trigger point therapy treats localised tender points in a muscle, sometimes called a muscle knot. These points can be painful to touch and may cause spread of pain through the whole muscle.
While it’s not known exactly how trigger point therapy works, today’s treatment worked very well and my back is feeling much better.
For me the only issue was that it’s hard to do trigger point treatment on yourself if you cant reach the points.
To enable me to treat myself at home the physio has given me two products that work very well.
Trigger Point Therapy At Home
First item is a “spikey ball”. This is a firm plastic ball that you place between the wall and your back. When you find a muscle knot you are probably right above a trigger point. From here you can lean back towards the wall and add more pressure. I was taught to hold the pressure for 10 seconds and then add a little more pressure as the muscle relaxes.
The other tool I was given is called a “BackKnobber”. It’s a large plastic “S” shaped tool with knobs on both ends. You can pop the tool either over your shoulder or from around the side. You then move the knob until you hit a trigger point.
From there you gently push the other end of the S away and this adds pressure to the muscle knot. Again I was told to hold for 10 seconds, add more pressure then another 10 seconds.
Equipped with both of these tools I am going to be able to do my own trigger point treatment at home by myself.
While it doesn’t replace a physio or massage therapist it is certainly a very effective proxy.
If you are interested in learning more about these tools you can read the reviews of the BackKnobber here at Amazon, or the Spikey Ball also at Amazon.
Yours in good health.
Dr George
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