Myofascial Release and Massage

What is Trigger Point Therapy and Massage?
A Trigger Point is a hypersensitive location, a nodule in the taut bands of the skeletal muscles' fascia. Direct compression or muscle contraction can elicit jump sign, local tenderness, local twitch response and referred pain which usually responds with a pain pattern distant from the hypersensitive location. A common reaction to these hypersensitive trigger points being treated is a jump characteristic behavioural response to pressure on a TrP. Individuals are frequently startled by the intense pain. They wince or cry out with a response seemingly out of proportion to the amount of pressure exerted by the examining fingers. They move involuntarily, jerking the shoulder, head, or some other part of the body not being palpated. A jump sign thus reflects the extreme tenderness of a TrP. This sign has been considered pathognomonic for the presence of TrPs.

Referred pain, also called reflective pain, is pain perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus. Pain is reproducible and does not follow dermatomes, myotomes, or nerve roots. There is no specific joint swelling or neurological deficits. Pain from a myofascial TrP is a distinct, discrete and constant pattern or map of pain.

Myofascial Pain Syndrome:
Refers to regional pain of soft tissue origin and is associated with muscle tenderness that arises from TrPs, focal points of tenderness, a few millimetres in diameter, found at multiple sites in a muscle and the fascia of muscle tissue.
Causes - Usually, TrPs happen due to:

• Ageing

• Injury sustained by a fall, by stress or birth trauma

• Lack of exercise - commonly in sedentary persons

• Bad posture - upper and lower crossed pattern, swayback posture, telephone posture, cross-legged sitting

• Muscle overuse and respective micro-trauma - weightlifting

• Chronic stress condition - anxiety, depression, psychological stress trauma

• Joint problems and hypermobility

We aim to not only treat but teach our clientele:
At Bulletproof Bodies We believe strongly on educating our clientele the importance of self-myofascial release work pre and post training and on non-training days to continue to improve function of muscles and joint mobility. 

We teach this through the following methods:

• Self-palpation and trigger point treatment

• Trigger point ball 

• Foam rolling

• Thera cane

• TENS Machine

• Thoracic Wedges and mobility tools through spine and pelvis

Various Stretching methods -

• Ballistic stretching

• Dynamic stretching

• Active stretching

• Passive (or relaxed) stretching

• Static stretching

• Isometric stretching

• PNF stretching

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Why we strongly recommend Massage and Trigger point Therapy as part of our treatment plan:
By including trigger point therapy / massage and the above-mentioned stretching methods into our training plan we achieve not only less muscle tension and inflammation throughout your body but improved joint mobility to allow you to biomechanically function correctly and able to attack life’s challenges with confidence in your body.

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