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Myofascial Pain is referred to as Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) or Chronic Myofascial Pain (CMP)

Think you might have Myofascial trigger points? Search the List of Symptoms & look in the Trigger Point Drawings to see if you can find your pain, stiffness or numbness Then check out the online articles & read about Pressure Release to get a start on dealing with the trigger points. Also read about Perpetuating Factors to see if you can find the things that caused or keep your trigger points going.

Treatment

Kinds of Treatment

Spray & Stretch This treatment can be done by Trigger Point Therapists, some Physical Therapists, & many Doctors. It is one of the best noninvasive treatments for trigger points, but the spray is expensive & it is not easily done correctly by a patient About Spray & Stretch   Gebauer's How to Spray & Stretch

Trigger Point & Referred Pain Guide

Use these drawings to determine if you have trigger points & which ones cause the different pains

Old Trigger Point Drawings

Manual Trigger Point Release As practiced by the NAMTPT

List of Myofascial Pain Symptoms & a list of the muscles that can cause them

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Injection Trigger point injection is explained in Trigger Point Diagnosis & Management

Related Trigger Points Find the other TrPs that make the ones you're working come back! right now this list only includes the upper body (give me a break there are 600 muscles

Perpetuating Factors These are the things that cause or keep Trigger points going. You must take care of them before you can get rid of trigger points.

Where to Get Treatment

National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists

Daily Pain Log Use this to track changes in pain & find some of the things that aggravate myofascial Pain

Learn about trigger point therapy, find a therapist in your area & find out what they have to do to be certified

MyoRehab

Information on the net

A very good treatment canter in Albuquerque, NM Their web site has info about treatment & articles by the therapists about different variations of myofascial pain & treatment they have done

Devin Starlanyl Extensive info on CMP with links to tons of info & support groups as well as a directory of health care providers

Repetitive Strain Injury & MPS How Myofascial Pain plays a part in Repetitive Strain Injury

Medications for Myofascial Pain

Identifying & Treating MPS In depth look at the diagnosis & treatment of MPS

In general Muscle relaxers & pain killers are good for MPS. Muscle relaxers loosen to some extent the tight bands of muscles & pain killers stop the referred pain. Both problems not only cause discomfort, but the spread of trigger points. How ever medication alone is not enough. It will only mask the symptoms.

American Family Physician Article on Trigger Point (MPS) diagnosis & management

Books On Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain

Tramadol / Ultram a pain reliever there is also Ultracet which is Tramadol with Tylenol add to get a patent. Out of the 3 names Tramadol is the cheapest if you have to pay for it.

Trigger Point Therapy Workbook This is designed to be a self help guide to dealing with trigger points. It is written to help a person with knee pain or a stiff elbow. It is a cheep way to get a book of almost complete trigger point drawings, but downplays the interrelated relationship of multiple trigger points & doesn't cover trigger points in muscles that are not easy to get yourself. But what do you expect for $20. I have used a copy of this book for 6 months

Tizanidine / Zanaflex a relaxer works by blocking nerve impulses

Amitriptyline / Elavil,Endep, Vanatrip Amitriptyline is an old antidepressant that is also used for pain management & to help with sleep. Some people have had good luck with this drug I personally did not think the side effects were worth it.

The Manual of Trigger Point & Myofascial Therapy This is a text book style look at some of the major muscle groups. It has trigger point theory then for each muscle it has 2 pages with pain patterns, TrP therapy & stretches. I have not found the time to read this one yet but the pictures are GREAT! This is about a $50 book

Cyclobenzaprine / Flexeril a muscle relaxer that works by blocking nerve impulses. It is a distant cousin to Amitriptyline.

Carisoprodol / Soma, Vanadom a muscle relaxer

Travell & Simons Myofascial Pain & Disfunction: The Trigger Point Manual The big daddy of myofascial pain books. This is a very good 2 volume set. It is the medical text that all the others reference. It has pages of info for every muscle. Including different methods of treatment, symptoms, related trigger points & stretches. I finally broke down & paid $180 for the set & I don't regret it.

Acetaminophen & Hydrocodone / Anexsia, Anolor DH5, Bancap HC, Dolacet, Lorcet, Lortab a Pain killer one of the 2 drugs is related to codeine

If you have any questions, comments or see some incorrect or missing info let me know. I check this email about twice a week.