Stiffness from Latent Trigger Points

Trigger points can be latent or active.  An active trigger point causes pain and restricts motion.  This pain may be merely annoying, or it may be severe, excruciating, debilitating, or even paralyzing.  A latent trigger point restricts the range of motion of the affected muscle but does not cause pain within this restricted range.  This restricted motion is usually experienced as stiffness.  Latent trigger points are painful when directly pressed.

    THE BAD NEWS about latent trigger points is that, over time, they create uncomfortable postural distortions -- such as rounded, hunched or uneven shoulders, protruding head, abnormal curvature of the spine, twisted hips, rotated sacrum, functional lower leg length inequality, excessive pronation of the feet, etc.  These effects result from the individual unconsciously trying to avoid pain:  over time he or she builds postural and movement habits that avoid bringing the muscle beyond it's restricted range, which is painful.  In this way latent trigger points become the source of dysfunctional posture that seems impossible to change.  They are the source of much of the decrepitude and discomfort of old age, for we tend to accumulate latent trigger points as we get older.  Similarly, athletes and dancers who try to stretch out stubborn restrictions in movement are usually unknowingly wrestling with latent trigger points. 

    THE GOOD NEWS is that latent trigger points can be cleared up just like active trigger points.  With careful and accurate therapy posture improves and ease of movement returns -- without forcing stretches that may be too painful to bear.  This aspect of trigger point therapy is obviously important for older people who may think they are doomed to shuffling around, or for anyone with signs of incipient decrepitude.  It is also useful for younger people, especially dancers and atheletes, quite apart from any pain condition, because movement becomes more fluid.

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 Boonton, Clinton, Denville and East Hanover area of northern NJ, though I am not immediately nearby. If you live in a town such as Lake Hiawatha, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany or Troy Hills NJ I would still be the closest certified therapist. Whippany, Convent Station, Dover and Montville NJ also fall into this category, as do Morristown, Morris Plains, Rockaway and Wharton 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