How I Became a Trigger Point Therapist

A LUCKY ACCIDENT.  I found Trigger Point Therapy by the kind of chance that was part of the magic of living in New York City.   At the time I was an avid, competitive ballroom dancer.   When I hurt my upper back during practice another dancer advised me to see a woman named Deborah Moran, a Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist, who was sure to help.   Though skeptical, I scheduled an appointment, and was surprised when my back pain disappeared after a few minutes work.  She said my "infraspinatus" had caused the problem.

ANOTHER LEVEL OF EXPERTISE. I was no stranger to bodywork, having had massage with excellant practitioners, but Debbie's expertise was in another category.   She knew the exact location, name, and fiber direction of each muscle, what it attached to, what it did, and what muscles it combined with to execute specific movements.  She used a continual pressure technique, varied treatment positions, and specialized stretches that were new to me.

ADDITIONAL PAINS.  I later developed a persistent hip pain.   After dance practice I would stop on the street and twist into odd stretch positions trying to relieve what felt like cramps.   This pain was probably caused by excessive ankle-weight training done to strengthen a bad knee.   Debbie reduced this hip problem and showed me stretching exercises to keep it at bay.   Beside that she could always get rid of a headache.

NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH A STORY. Some months later I ran into a dance instructor who also knew her work.   His father had had knee pain for 15 years and been informed there was no remedy.   He told excitedly how his father saw Debbie and 45 minutes later was mostly free from the pain.   After a couple more sessions she sent him home without pain but with stretches and exercises that he continues to this day.

BETTER POSTURE.  In the course of this sophisticated bodywork I discovered benefits beyond pain control that meant a lot to me.   I had never liked my posture but thought it was a given, assuming that unyielding elements like bones hold the body in its configuration.   Dance practice helped me stand straighter, but despite all efforts my shoulders still rounded forward – enough to give even an athletic person a weak, unattractive aspect.  The elegant chest forward posture required by dance seemed unattainable.

But I learned through this work that posture is maintained primarily by muscle and fascial (connective) tissue.   In my case, Debbie proved an enthusiastic detective of body mechanics, – figuring out which muscle or fascial sheet restricted the movement of a body part or held a bone at a distorted angle.  Trigger point therapy, along with fascial work and targeted stretching, changed my posture, changed the seeming “structure” of my body.   My shoulders at last fell into a more correct position and are now close to what I want.

FREER MOVEMENT.  Other consequences of this myofascial work were important to me as a dancer.   Freeing up held tissue allowed a better range of motion and made dancing more fluid.   In addition, certain difficult figures were no longer uncomfortable.   Now I play tennis instead of dancing, and can see first hand that that trigger point therapy improves movement for athletes: my groundstrokes are freer than they were 20 years ago.

WHY I BECAME A THERAPIST

THE TRANSITION.  During this period I was Senior Vice President for Technology at a financial company.   After taking an early retirement I wanted to redirect my energy toward helping people as individuals rather than a whole organization, and the therapy Debbie practiced came to mind.  I knew firsthand that its benefits were substantial and had reason to believe I would have the necessary manual skills.

RESEARCH UNDERPINNINGS.  But it was important to understand this therapy from a less personal perspective.  From Debbie (and her bookshelves) I knew that her methods had credible intellectual and medical underpinnings, which I then pursued.  Through Travell and Simons’ Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction and other works I found that that these treatments have been firmly established through a wealth of medical research and clinical experience over the past 50 years.  The surprising fact that many doctors and physical therapists, though familiar with the term "myofascial pain", are unaware of trigger point therapy, or of the frequency with which myofascial pain masquerades as something else, presented an opportunity.  As a trigger point therapist I could provide a needed service for people with common pain conditions that go untreated, get mistreated, or are medicated to no avail.

NOTE: If you live near Manhattan you can get Deborah Moran’s contact information from her website.  She has helped a great variety of people, including some who considered ending their lives to escape pain.

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This page is part of a larger website intended to educate people about trigger point bodywork and other methods of non-invasive, drug-free pain relief.  Myofascial therapy was developed by physicians in the last few decades.  Its primary purpose is to eliminate myofascial pain, but it also improves movement and posture.

I offer myofascial treatment and pain management services for the Bloomingdale, Lincoln Park, Mountain View and North Haledon area of northern NJ, though I am not immediately nearby. If you live in a town such as Packanack Lake, Pequannock, Pompton Plains or Wayne NJ I would still be the closest certified therapist. Allendale, Darlington, Mahwah and Preakness NJ also fall into this category, as do Oakland, Ramsey, Upper Saddle River and Wyckoff NJ and much of the rest of New Jersey. Somewhat distant towns are mentioned because I have seen many times that people are glad to travel even several hours to get rid of pain. If you live elsewhere you may be able to find a practitioner nearby.

Copyright 2007 Joseph Hoane