How to Identify a Key Trigger Point in Massage

Myofascial trigger points are responsible for persistent pain in approximately 10 percent of the United States population. Similar to fibromayalgia, trigger points generate muscular pain in localized zones. Active or key trigger points cause pain at rest. They can cause decreased range of motion, distortion of posture and manifest as migraines or TMJ.

Instructions

• 1

  Talk with the patient to determine where and how badly his pain manifests. Refer to a trigger point chart to locate the best place to start examination. Self-diagnosis follows the same procedure.

• 2

  Warm up the area to be worked on with heating pads or hot towels.

• 3

  Isolate the trigger point by pressing gently on the referenced spot. A key trigger point generates pain immediately under firm pressure and refers pain to a distant site at the same time.

• 4

  Rub your fingers across the grain of the muscle. A local twitch response also indicates the presence of a trigger point.

• 5

  Key trigger points may also generate latent trigger points along the nerve pathway.