Blog

Do you or a loved one suffer chronic pain?

Are you tired of living in pain, not being happy with how your body functions? Not sleeping well which affects your mood?  Chronic pain is horrible. It affects your day to day life, your sleep, your social life and the list goes on.

Do you want to live a pain free life, Throw away those painkillers, sleep better, be able to exercise so you look and feel amazing?

Then check this out 🙂

What are trigger points and why are they of significance? (This is how we can help your chronic pain)

Basically a trigger point is a tight area within a muscle. These are the points that when you push on are relatively painful. These trigger points often elicit a deep ache, sometimes in the area of the trigger point & sometimes in a referred area.

When we are in pain and particularly chronic pain our bodies reaction is to tighten in this area. 99% of the time there is trigger point formation. This increases pain levels & restricts movement. The muscle then tightens further, more trigger points develop and the vicious cycle of chronic muscle restriction begins.

In many of these cases this chronic pain may have started due to an acute injury. The body attempts to protect this by tightening around the area. However this acute injury can heal, and the guarding which is now just pain causing muscle tightness does not release – unless something is done about it!

How do we help?

We work through the muscle, particularly the trigger points to free them and restore quality of movement. This breaking down of trigger points and restoration of the correct movement patterns is vital in helping people manage chronic pain.

Imagine what a dramatic decrease in your pain levels would mean to you – and your loved ones.

What are your health goals for 2018?

What are your health goals were for 2018? For many people it’s to be fitter, eat healthier & overall improve their lifestyle. How do we hit our goals if we don’t have a plan?

Every Jan, Feb and even March we see numerous people whose New Year’s resolution was to become a bit fitter. Right now you may be thinking wow that’s awesome, what’s the problem if they’re coming in fitter and healthier? The trouble is they’re not.

Their training wasn’t planned properly. They now have major tightness issues and often overuse injuries that can set back progress weeks, if not months – that’s assuming they still have enough motivation to start again.

What I feel one of the most rewarding things we do here at Rapid Recovery is help people achieve their goals. We do this through well thought out and structured training plans combined with maintenance sessions.

This dramatically decreases the chance of injury and drastically increases the chances of you hitting your goals. If your New Year’s resolution is fitness based. Book an appointment in Jan and let’s work to smash these goals together!

What is a tension headache?

What is a tension headache?

Tension headaches cause millions of Australian’s pain and suffering every year. But what exactly are they & what causes them? Tension headaches are caused by tightening of the muscles in the upper back, neck and head. It is the most common of all the various headache types. Some studies have shown they actually account for up to 90% of all headaches  & affect slightly more women than men.

How do tight muscles cause a tension headache?
Trigger points! Many muscles of the neck, jaw & shoulders can refer pain directly into your head. This means the pain in the  problem area (the headache) is actually referred pain from a muscle.

What causes the muscle tightness?
There are 2 major causes of muscle tightness relating to tension headaches – poor posture & stress, in many cases a combination!

What are the symptoms of a tension headache?
There are a number of symptoms associated with tension headaches, somebody suffering may have as little as one or many of these symptoms:

  • Dull constant pain, usually varying in intensity from mild to moderate and sometimes severe. Usually just above the eyes, over the temple, on the side of the head or at the back/ base of the skull
  • Constant, tight, heavy or pressing sensation over or around the head. Sometimes described as a vice like feeling
  • Tightness & tenderness around scalp (yes you have muscles in your head), neck & shoulder muscles
  • Neck movement restricted by muscular stiffness & discomfort
  • Recurrent headaches
  • Mild – moderate sensitivity to light & noise
  • Nausea
  • Trouble concentrating & difficulty sleeping
  • Depression & anxiety

What is the best form of treatment?

While pain killers may be helpful in relieving the initial pain, they don’t help to fix the cause (they are only symptoms relief!).The best form of treatment for tension headaches is manual treatment & corrective exercise. We can help with both!

Manual treatment helps to relieve these sore tight muscles causing the head ache. It will also help to improve posture, helping to fix the issue at one of it’s major causes. Not only is manual treatment good in relieving tension headaches, it is also very effective in prevention & stress relief.

Corrective exercises prescribed by health professionals help to relieve & prevent tension headaches in a number of ways. Specific stretching exercises loosen tight hypertonic muscles that are causing pain & help to promote good posture. Strengthening exercises aimed at improving posture help to prevent tension headaches from occurring. They are also very effective form of stress release as is cardio exercise such as running, cycling, & swimming.

Tension headaches would be close to the most common condition I treat in the clinic. If you are suffering or you know somebody else who is call for an appointment ASAP!

What is a trigger point & how can it cause me pain?

A trigger point is a small lump that forms in a tight band of muscle tissue. It can cause many different types of pain. It can be a dull constant ache, a sharp shooting pain or a pain in a completely different area to where the pain is (referred pain). Levels of pain caused by trigger points can vary from intermittently and quite mild to constant and sever pain or anything in-between.

A good way to describe the feel of a trigger point is a partially cooked piece of spaghetti deep within the muscle. This will also cause a tight band to form which feels like a piece of rope or guitar string.

Why should you care about trigger points?
Trigger points are one of the largest causes of pain in the human body. They can be the primary cause of pain or secondary. Even when secondary (caused by another source such as a muscle tear) the pain caused and referred by trigger points can be worse than the injury itself! In most muscular injuries a large portion of the pain can be caused by trigger points.
Trigger points are known to contribute to:

  • Head aches
  • Neck & Jaw pain
  • Upper, mid & low back pain
  • Joint pain – incl. hip, shoulder & knee
  • Arthritis

What do trigger points feel like?
Trigger points cause many different types of pain. It can be a dull constant ache, a sharp shooting pain or a pain in a completely different area to where the pain is (referred pain). The fact that trigger point pain can exist with other causes of pain can make treatment quite complex.

So we can easily understand that trigger points cause us pain, but what exactly is a trigger point?
Essentially a trigger point is a small cluster of muscle fibres in a state of contracture. If nothing is done to release these fibres they will not release themselves.  This leads to further muscle dysfunction, which leads to more trigger points forming and usually pain! It can be a vicious cycle.

How can I fix the pain caused by trigger points?
Trigger point therapy, a technique used in nearly every treatment we do at Rapid Recovery is one of the best ways to help relieve trigger points. It gently helps to stretch the fibres that are in a state of contracture and improve blood flow to the area.

Stretching is also another therapeutic activity to relieve trigger points. A gentle stretch to a trigger point can help to unlock fibres in contracture and restore the muscle to a more functional state.

Strengthening is the final step in the treatment of trigger points. Generally trigger points form due to too much load on a muscle (muscle is not strong enough to cope with demands placed on it) or incorrect biomechanics of a joint, generally caused by muscle imbalances. We can provide prescribe the exercises that would be best for you.

What do I think about trigger points?
Trigger points cause a lot of pain & dysfunction within the musculoskeletal system.  It can be something as general as a back or head ache or trigger point pain caused after a muscular injury.

Even trigger points caused by another injury can be extremely debilitating & a lack of education within the health system means a lot of people live in constant pain or on high doses of drugs when they don’t have to. Treatment of trigger points is usually extremely effective and it is very rare to have a client not improve their pain levels and quality of life.

If you or someone you know are experiencing pain that may be caused by trigger points (intermittent or constant aches (including head aches) or sharp shooting pain) feel free to call us for advice (03) 5962 5446. Many people who live in constant pain don’t have to, only problems is they don’t realise it!