During the past week I've been extremely busy getting all of the last-minute details together for my yoga retreat in Italy. This means that I'm spending an inordinate amount of time sitting in front of my computer with my hip and knee joints bent at 90-degree angles. On Friday and Saturday, I spent nearly every waking moment at my desk, and on Saturday night, I stood up and suddenly felt a sharp, searing pain near my knee. I could hardly walk, and I couldn't stretch it out. Out of desperation, I took Advil, but it did nothing. The pain kept me awake all night and I limped around all day Sunday. This was worrisome, especially since I'm supposed to lead a group of people all over Italy in a few days. Finally I grabbed what I consider to be my most valuable material possession: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, by Clair Davies. This book has helped me countless times, and even more so, it has helped me to help others manage their pain.
I first became aware of trigger points from my massage therapist, Sheri Bergen, at Alexandria Myotherapy. Trigger points are little knots in the muscles that often send pain to another place in the body. They keep the muscle weak and the attachments tight, which can cause pain and immobility in the joints. They can't be stretched out -- they must be kneaded out. You can often take care of trigger points yourself, but if they're out of reach you'll need a massage therapist who has special training in trigger point therapy.
I got out my handy book and found out that the muscle hurting was the sartorius. Problems with this muscle often start with a sudden twisting motion or excessive extension of the hip and are characterized by burning, searing pain along the thigh or near the inside of the knee -- people often mistake this for knee pain. But get this: To fix the pain near my knee, I had to massage the trigger points located in the upper thigh, near my groin. It's not fun to do this -- trigger points are tender and painful, especially the first time you work on them. But after only 5 minutes of massage, I'd say I had an 85% reduction in pain and I could walk without a limp. I continued to massage the trigger points several times a day, and by Tuesday night -- 3 days later -- I felt fine.
But what do you think would happen if I went to a doctor? I think it's a safe bet to say that I could go to 5 different doctors and 5 different physical therapists around here, and every one of them would stay focused on my knee. They'd take X-rays of my knee, prescribe pain killers and exercises to strengthen my knee, and some may even suggest surgery. I seriously doubt that even one would look to my groin to heal the pain near my knee. And that's sad. There's a whole branch of knowledge out there that very few doctors know about. Many of you have heard the story about my son, who had a problem with his achilles heel: He went to foot doctors and physical therapists who only looked at his feet. He wore special boots and casts. None of it helped. When one of the doctors started talking about cutting his achilles tendon to lengthen it, I took him to Sheri. Right away she noticed that his calf muscles were extremely hard and tight and were pulling on his achilles tendon. She spent a whole hour massaging his calves, then he hopped off the table feeling better than he had in two years. After a few more home massages, he was cured.
The author of this book mentions numerous cases of people diagnosed with arthritis, carpel tunnel syndrome, chronic migraines . . . people who've had to stop running, stop playing the violin, stop working because of chronic pain. And all were lucky enough to bump into trigger point therapy and be cured -- without drugs and without surgery. I've seen many people have amazing results once they locate their trigger points, and massage therapists see even more than I do.
Of course the key is that you have to make the effort and do the work -- you have to massage the trigger points several times a day or go to a professional who is trained in trigger point therapy. (A professional can get in deeper and give you quicker results.) I think we need to spread the word. Why not try it? It can't hurt you, and if it leads to a better quality of life with less pain and more mobility, it's certainly worth it.
Namaste!
Sandy Pradas