Trigger Point Therapy - Dietary Influences

About Nutrition and Chronic Pain

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies are Present in 50% of Chronic Pain Cases 

Adequate quantities of minerals and vitamins are essential for healthy muscles and tissues.

Studies have indicated that 50% of clients presenting with chronic pain are found to be deficient in a number of key micronutrients.

Vitamins B1, B6, and B12, along with vitamin C and folic acid, are important in the war on pain.

The minerals calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium are all critically important.

These vitamins and minerals play important roles in the physiology of muscle activity.

Treatment Outcomes

Clients presenting with myofascial pain disorders, and who are suffering from micronutrient deficiencies, will usually require dietary supplementation for the trigger point treatment to be successful.

Nutrition Deficiencies

All too often, clients are confused as to why they are deficient in these important minerals and vitamins. They will report that they eat well and have normal dietary habits compared with other family members.

The problem may not be their diet but rather their personal health choices, such as smoking and drinking alcohol or caffeine.

Smoking, for example, annihilates vitamin C, while oral contraceptives affect vitamin B6 levels.

Antacid medication can leave many individuals with the symptoms of chronic fatigue; even writing their signature becomes an effort.

Common Symptoms

Clients with vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies may report feeling unusually cold, bouts of diarrhea, restless leg syndrome, headaches, disturbed sleep, and trigger point pain.

Other symptoms include feeling fatigued, muscle cramping, and depression.

Approach

Metabolic disorders should be ruled out, particularly thyroid problems and hypoglycemia.

Referral of clients with vitamin/mineral deficiencies is always recommended.

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NAMTPT AWARD 2017

We are honored to have received the 2017 "Excellence in Education" Award from the National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists.

Since 1999 Niel Asher Education has won numerous awards for education and in particular for education and services provided in the field of trigger point therapy.

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Niel Asher Healthcare course instructors have won a host of prestigious awards including 2 lifetime achievement honorees - Stuart Hinds, Lifetime Achievement Honoree, AAMT, 2015, and Dr. Jonathan Kuttner, MD, Lifetime Achievement Honoree, NAMTPT, 2014.

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