There is a bit confusion between these points and the direct consequence from this confusion is that sometimes fibromyalgia gets blamed on pain symptoms that are actually caused by trigger points and vice versa. Either way it's the patients who will lose, as the treatments they get aren't going to help to the problems they have. Even the foremost experts' make regular mistakes with these terms and unintentionally add to the confusion. Because of this, I believe some clarifications are in order. Clarifications Trigger points refer to myofascial trigger points, hyper contracted knots in a taunt band, basically tender lumps in muscles that cause localised pain. Tender points refer to diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia, they are just pre-decided spots which are used to identify increased total body sensitiveness to pain, which is one of the major indicators for fibromyalgia. They have nothing to do with trigger points, but because some of these tender points appear in close proximities of common trigger points, it's easy even for doctors to get confused. Patient's focus Because doctors will deal with the diagnostics side of things, they will handle the tender points. Basically as a fibromyalgia or chronic pain patient, only points you need to be aware of are trigger points. Although not all fibro patients suffer from TrPs, it's estimated that about 70% fibro patients suffer also from TrPs. It's thought that fibromyalgia tends to aggravate and aid in creation of trigger points, which in turn cause even more pain. Let's simplify thing and say that pain causes trigger points, and that the higher sensitiveness to pain makes fibro patients get them more often. That's why it's especially important to people with fibro to know how to deal with them, because it's very likely that some of their pain symptoms are direct result from aggravated trigger points. TrPs - what are they and how to handle them Basically trigger points are hyper contracted muscle cells that cause localised pain usually a little far from the actual TrPs spot. For example trigger point in quadriceps muscles could cause knee pain, and TrPs in upper back could cause neck pain, or even pain that mimics migraines or headaches. The good news is that you can get rid of them and the pain that they cause just by massaging them, as pressure will cause them to regain their normal state of contraction. And the really good news is that do to the studies of doctors Travell and Simons we know pretty much all the possible places were trigger points can form, and the individual pain patterns that they cause. Fibro Basically treating TrPs when you have fibro doesn't differ from treating them from a regular bloke; just that you need to find a way to do the massage without aggravating your fibro. The only way to find the right balance for it is trough personal experience. |
