Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

BEYOND BRAWN
18.126 I am not guaranteeing that you will get the “miracle” I did, but I am sure
that all who conscientiously apply trigger point therapy will get considerable
benefit and be delighted they pursued it. I am not saying that all injuries can
be successfully treated with this therapy, but I think most can.
Warning!
18.127 Trigger point therapy cannot be used as a panacea for fixing persistent abuse
of exercise. You must stop doing exercises and activities that are dangerous,
and cease using poor weight-training form and uncontrolled rep cadence.
Background on trigger point therapy
Dr. Raymond L. Nimmo
18.128 Dr. Raymond Nimmo was a founding player in the development of trigger
point therapy. Nimmo graduated as a chiropractor in 1926¹ and, as reported
by Cohen and Schneider², “was one of the pioneers of a paradigm shift in
chiropractic thought. [Nimmo] stated that the soft tissues of the body could
also be the source of irritation to the nervous system, not just the spinal
vertebrae.” In another article¹, Cohen and Schneider noted:
Nimmo coined the term noxious generative point to describe these areas of
focal muscle tenderness that caused referred pain upon palpation… it is interesting
to note that Nimmo had independently discovered what other researchers
would eventually term myofascial trigger points.
Nimmo first became aware of the term trigger point in 1952, when he read an
article by Dr. Janet Travell…
18.129 Janet Travell, MD, was another key figure in the development of trigger point
therapy.
18.130 Nimmo developed the Receptor-Tonus technique for trigger point therapy,
to which he “devoted over thirty years to researching and developing.”³
What is a trigger point?
18.131 According to Kle and Kreisman³ a trigger point is:
an accumulation of metabolic waste products (such as carbon dioxide, lactic
acid, hyaluronic acid, etc.) that concentrates at points in muscle. It causes local
pain, as well as pain in other parts of the body. ese metabolic accumulations
cause pain by irritating nerve endings in the muscle, sending an excess of pain
signals to the nervous system…
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