Healing through Trigger Point Therapy

Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain are seriously misunderstood conditions that cause needless distress and expense to millions worldwide. Trigger points are a component of all chronic pain, and the main cause of pain in fibromyalgia. This book shows care providers and patients how to prevent or relieve these common generators of pain and dysfunction.

Nearly every chronic pain patient has untreated and often unsuspected myofascial trigger points—tender, painful nodules and ropy bands in the soft tissues. Trigger point therapy has been used for decades and is recognized as a powerful tool in healing diverse symptoms, including muscle weakness, loss of grip strength, menstrual pain, nerve and blood vessel entrapment, irritable bowel syndrome, vocal dysfunctions, dizziness, clumsiness, sexual dysfunction, vision problems, nasal congestion, loss of focus, writer’s cramp, the inability to sit still, and many health issues related to aging.

In this book, Devin J. Starlanyl and John Sharkey explain how trigger points work as symptom generators that can refer pain to other parts of the body, creating a cascade of dysfunction. The authors provide maps of trigger points within each region of the body along with guidance for both patients and care providers in pain management, self-help remedies, and diagnostic and treatment protocols. Finally, they present a vision for the future of fibromyalgia and other chronic pain treatment, asserting that patients have a vital role to play in achieving health and improving quality of life.

Devin J. Starlanyl, fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain patient and care provider, is retired president of the Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain Institute. She is the coauthor of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual and author of The Fibromyalgia Advocate. She has published articles on fibromyalgia and trigger points in national and international medical journals and maintains a fibromyalgia website (www. sover.net/~devstar). She facilitates the Facebook page Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction.

John Sharkey, MSc, has been a foot soldier fighting the war on myofascial pain from trigger points, working for better understanding of fascia and human movement. An exercise physiologist (BASES), anatomist (BACA), and European neuromuscular therapist, John brings his wisdom to this groundbreaking book.