My desire for my clients is for you to receive the maximum benefits from your therapy sessions from me for pain-related issues.  I also want you to know how massage therapy works to help eliminate pain.  When clients are educated they can get better results from the massage, because they’re more aware of their body.  Fascia and Trigger points are two aspects massage therapy can focus on to offer pain relief. 

      A trigger point is a highly sensitive spot on the muscle that is caused by many things like:  Dehydration, strain, sprain, a fall or a blow to the muscle and over using your muscles.   The body has many trigger points and they lay in your muscles quietly waiting for the right moment to activate and cause pain. When the stress level are high enough (either emotional or physical stress) the trigger point is triggered and the muscle sends a message to your brain saying its hurt and it needs protection.  Then the brain sends a signal back to original muscle, also the surrounding muscles telling the muscle to contract. Creating a muscle spasm, this causes major restriction and lots of pain!

     Fascia is dense connective tissue that wraps around and covers every muscle in your body.  When a person gets injured the fascia around their muscles contract then gets hard and as time goes by another layer of fascia grows underneath the old layer of fascia and then gets hard and the process continues over and over again.  If a person were to cut a tree down they would see rings.  The core of the tree represents the muscle. The outer rings’ arrangement represents the fascia. With the outer most layer of fascia can be compared as the bark of a tree.  

      When a person gets injured and the injury goes untreated; they will eventually grow multiple layers of fascia covering the muscle. With this thick layer of fascia it makes it difficult to move freely because your muscles are so rigid and stiff.  One way massage therapy helps with these two issues is by breaking through the multiple layers of fascia, so the muscle can be accessed.  Once the muscle is accessed the trigger point can be released.  Once this happens the muscle relaxes and the pain in that particular muscle subsides.