Clinically speaking, the pectoralis minor muscle is the little brother of the pectoralis major muscle. Like all little brothers, the pectoralis minor wants to do everything that  big brother does, so it’s no surprise that trigger points in these two muscles have almost identical referred pain patterns. These pain patterns start in the front of shoulder [...]

First and foremost, everything written below assumes that a cardiac source of chest pain has been ruled out by a cardiologist. It’s absolutely imperative that if your client (or the reader) is experiencing chest pain, they (or you) should immediately be examined by a cardiologist. Only after being cleared by a cardiologist should this myofascial source [...]

I love working the gastrocnemius trigger points. No other muscle seems to have as much “bang-for the-buck” for both the therapist and the client (but the soleus muscle is a close second). Call me crazy, but sometimes I think every case of myofascial pain (from headaches to foot pain) has it’s origin in the calf muscles. [...]

The abdominal oblique muscles form the lateral wall of the abdomen and function to move the trunk relative to the pelvis. Contraction of these muscles, along with the other abdominal muscles, also acts to increase the pressure inside the abdominal cavity, which is necessary for the proper functioning of the abdominal organs. The trigger points in [...]

The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) is one of my favorite muscle groups to work with, mainly because the results can be simply extraordinary. Trigger point activity in this muscle can cause a bewilderingly set of symptoms, with many being confusingly similar to the symptoms associated with the common (no aura) migraine headache. Make no mistake, these are the [...]

You can spot levator scapulae trigger points a hundred yards away, just look for the person that is moving about like Frankenstein. Their head appears glued into position on top of their body and their movements are slow and deliberate. They turn their whole body to look at someone and move their eyes in unnatural ways [...]

Dr. Travell refers to the trigger points in the iliopsoas muscle group as the hidden pranksters of myofascial low back pain complaints, and rightly so. This muscle group lies deep in the abdominal cavity, out-of-sight and out-of-mind for many healthcare practitioners. Though they rarely present as a single-muscle myofascial pain complaint, the iliopsoas trigger points frequently [...]

The hamstring muscle group is the workhorse of human ambulation. Just to stand upright requires a continuous effort from these muscles, making them some of the most overworked muscles in the body. Where there is muscular overload there is trigger point activity, and the hamstrings are frequently a hotbed of both latent and active trigger points. [...]

The trigger points in the rectus abdominis muscle are biological con artists. They cause all kinds of trouble and fool us into believing that the blame lies elsewhere in our body. One way they do this is by projecting pain across the midline of the body. Most trigger points refer pain only to the side of [...]

Trigger points in the small piriformis muscle found deep in the buttock region can create an impressive amount of trouble for people. Active piriformis trigger points refer pain and tenderness to the sacroiliac joint, gluteal, and hip regions. They can also be responsible for a type of sciatica known as Piriformis Syndrome. Piriformis syndrome occurs when [...]

The day that I learned about the multifidi trigger points was a revelation for me. As a chiropractor, I had battled the transitory effectiveness of spinal manipulation for years. My patients would complain that the pain relief provided by my chiropractic treatment only lasted for about a half an hour. In frustration, I asked other chiropractors [...]

As it’s name suggests, the gluteus maximus is the king of the gluteal muscles, and the ruler of gluteal pain. Many low back pain complaints involve a significant gluteal pain component, so the therapist needs to make a habit of addressing the gluteus maximus trigger points in every low back pain treatment plan. Symptoms associated with [...]

Dr. Travell refers to the gluteus minimus as the “Psuedo-Sciatica” muscle because its trigger points can refer pain that mimics the symptoms associated with true neurological sciatica. I can’t overemphasize how important it is for a therapist that regularly sees low back and hip pain complaints to know this muscle and its trigger points like the [...]

I’m very excited to share a great solution for clients with TMJ trigger points that was developed by   Gail Falzon, RN , a prominent trigger point therapist and member of this community. It is called the  MyoFree® Solution , and  is a self-help system that effectively treats the muscles involved in TMJ, jaw, headache and atypical face pain using intra-oral trigger point [...]

Bow Down to the Masters of Low Back Pain Nothing gets a person on their “hands and knees” quicker than active trigger points in the quadratus lumborum muscle. These trigger points are always on the top of my list when it comes to acute low back pain complaints, especially those cases where the pain is so severe [...]

It doesn’t happen often in the field of myofascial pain, but the deltoid muscle group is not going to fool anyone with the referred pain from its trigger points. What might fool you is the fact that deltoid trigger points are rarely the sole cause of shoulder pain, despite their prominent location. The Deltoid Muscle For a [...]

If I had to describe the supraspinatus trigger points with just one word, it would be stubborn. It took me a long time to really learn how to locate and release these little devils. If you’re serious about resolving a client’s shoulder pain complaint, you are going to have to go head-to-head with supraspinatus trigger points [...]

I have seen more than my share of frozen shoulder complaints over the years, and though each case of frozen shoulder is always a little bit different, they all have one thing in common; subscapularis trigger points. A little understanding of these trigger points goes a long way towards “thawing out” a frozen shoulder. The Subscapularis Muscle [...]

Shoulder pain disorders can be the most stubborn and complex cases of myofascial pain imaginable, and just when you think you are making progress they seem to transmute into a mutli-headed monster of pain and dysfunction. After battling this monster in my clinical practice for over a decade, I can tell you that the key to [...]

Of all the shoulder pain trigger points that I treat in my practice, the infraspinatus trigger points are the most fun. Many patients think that I’m some kind of magician when I recreate the pain in the front of their shoulder by pressing into their shoulder blade. It’s not magic, of course, it’s just good myofascial [...]