Trigger Point Therapy - Oh the Pain (Part III)

Like most of my experiments, I decided to give trigger point therapy (as prescribed by Clair Davies) a thorough vetting, despite discomfort and pain.  Forty plus trigger points is a lot to deal with at one time.  In the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, Davies recommends specific massage protocols for eliminating trigger points.  The basics of Davies' recommendations is to massage the trigger points at a pain level of 7 (out of 10) for six to twelve strokes three to six times per day.  For one or a few trigger points, this would equate to a few minutes per session per day.  But for my forty plus trigger points, I ended up spending over an hour per session and didn't end up treating all of my trigger points each session.  Fortunately, I started over Thanksgiving break so I was able to commit to three sessions per day - three very painful sessions.

There is something in the massage world called post massage soreness and malaise (PMSM).  PMSM is exactly what it sounds like - you feel sore and tired.  I was sore and tired and developed symptoms similar to a really bad cold (sore throat and stuffy head) in addition to the soreness and tiredness. Then my urine changed color slightly, was more brown than normal.  A search for the cause of this particular symptom resulted in discovery of the condition of Rhabdomyolysis, a term used to describe the breakdown of muscle fiber, which releases the contents of the muscle fiber into the blood stream.  To read up on Rhabdomyolysis, click here for the NIH link.  Rhabdomyolysis can be dangerous but it didn't seem to be overwhelming my system, so I opted to continue but monitor for worse symptoms.  After about a week and a half, my PMSM subsided, leaving only the pain of the massage.

To read more about my experiments with trigger point therapy, click the following links:

Dr. Travell, the White House Physician of JFK (Part I)
Fumbling in the Dark (Part II)
Oh the Pain (Part III)
Relief (Part IV)