Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Do you know about TRIGGER POINTS?

Dear friends
We don't know each other well, but I feel like talking to friends.
So, that's the third day i am doing the NSD diet without dairy or sugar too. I still sometimes feel pain but I can't walk without walking stick. Even i don't have to take regularly tablets, just painkillers like paracetamol.
I lost weight, i can wear clothes that i couldn't wear anymore.
Now i am studying pain. How to reduce or eliminate pain and stiffness.
I see that many muscles around my Knee hurts.)
Recently i learn about trigger points.
for a few days I am doing massage to myself and explore my body...
like the song "I touch my self" :-)
I am doing anything naughty :-)
Anyway
talk to you soon
Costas

Sorry , i correct myself: i am doing my diet for a third week

and i am not doing anything naughty... Where is my mind..
I didn't so many mistakes when i was writing this post
sorryyyyyy

Hi Costas,

Your first post was perfect, I understood everything you were saying without the corrections.

I most go through what I type 10 times, and I still miss typing errors - it's just the keyboard acting up - it's not you.

I am glad the the LSD/NSD is working for you. Hopefully soon you will be without pain.

Hugs
Gerri

in 1998, i pulled something (soft tissue: muscle, tendon, something, to this day doctors aren't 100% sure exactly what) in the rhomboid area of my upper left back; it caused all the muscles in the upper back, neck, etc to spasm terribly for quite some time, over and over again. that led to lots of active triggerpoints. PT tried to do triggerpoint therapy by pressing on those triggerpoints, the way you describe, but my muscles just spasm more when that happens. then the PT tried ultrasound.....BINGO! that worked. slowly she made them smaller and smaller and helped the muscles spasm less and less........then she sent me to a physiatrist......the physiatrist gave me the muscle relaxant zanaflex........that helped even more......but not quite enough..........then she gave me triggperpoint injections......BINGO! that really got rid of each one injected instantaneously! i had a lot so i had to have 3-4 injected each time every month for a year, then i moved. since then (2003) i'd get the remainder either ultrasounded or injected, but we had already taken care of the worst ones.......the really bad ones would do the jump response when the triggerpoint in the belly of the muscle was released, like breaking up scar tissue or a "knot" or "adhesions" (have heard them referred to in all those ways). so much better now, but not completely. now i have a chiropractor working on them once again. his technique is a gentler modified A.R.T. (active release technique; if you look it up, a number of chiros, PTs, etc do it); ART is like triggerpoint therapy however the triggerpoints aren't pressed nearly as hard, and while being gently pressed, the muscles are stretched either by the chiro or by me, this really helps break up the adhesions in both the muscles and the myofascia. i've been very lucky to have good practitioners over the years to help me with this. i also have more latent triggerpoints in the right side of the upper back, shoulder, neck, and some in my butt.....maybe elsewhere, but not active so we mostly let sleeping dogs lie. if you can press yours out without making things worse, go for it!

Thank you very very very much Sue!
Your given information is valuable.
I will keep studying about trigger points and is possible to apply one of these therapies.
Costas

Hey;
I get Trigger Point Injections in my back, neck and SIs every two weeks like clockwork. The injection is a tiny needle with Lidocaine, and basically, it hurts like heck for about 18 hours after the injections, but then all of a sudden, I can WALK! It's pretty cool. I have a dx of Secondary Fibromyalgia, (caused by AS) and I guess the TPs are mostly for that (the soft-tissue pain) but HECK, they help me. That first day bites, though. It's outta-my-way-gimme-the-heating-pad-and-the-remote time.

I had him do one on the back of my head once, and WOW it was like . . . like popping something. It released instantly as soon as the needle went in. Fabulous.

I have another AS friend in BC who gets them too, and loves them. I don't think she has a Fibro DX.

I BELIEVE in Trigger Points! And the injections rock. Just the recovery time sucks. Sometimes I get them super deep with steroids too. Those suck worse but the relief lasts longer.

i second what bridget says......

bridget, not sure if this would help you, but as soon as i get a triggerpoint injected, i put an ice pack on it and use ice one and off for the rest of that day, that seems to help, don't know if you've tried ice on it.

i too had a triggerpoint in the back of my head done and it too was awesome! you might think it would hurt to have it injected but it didn't really, it just felt good.....i guess there aren't a lot of nerve endings up there. anyway, my head stopped spasming, could lay it on my pillow again!

i don't have fibro, so they can definitely get activated in other ways.

i too believe in them, mostly because the things my doctors have done to treat them really work.

I am going to buy Ultralieve PRO
Do you think is a good idea?
http://www.ultralieve.com.au/

i don't know about that one specifically, but i can tell you that i love (LOVE) my home ultrasound unit:

this is the one i bought after consultation with PTs, one here on KA and the one i was seeing at the time:

http://shop.mendmeshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=32

the one you linked may be the same thing, i don't know without looking closer, but you can compare the two.

i was looking for one with the power very similar to that at the PT's office, this one is nearly identical, only big difference is pulsed vs continuous wave.

some people may warn you against the use of ultrasound, and especially about the home use one, i got those warnings, but i've been using mine as needed for over a year now and so long as one is careful, i've had excellent results. just be careful to use enough gel to dissipate the heat/energy, to keep it moving, and to not use it directly over bone. so long as you are careful, you should be ok.

when something gets really bad, i use it every day, once a day. could i use it more than once a day, i don't know, i was being conservative. my PT said that she's done ultrasound every day on patients (in nursing homes, etc), so that's what i went with.

have you had ultrasound done in a PT's office (or chiro's office)? if not, maybe try that first, make sure ultrasound is an effective treatment for you. by the time i bought my ultrasound unit, i had over a decade of experience of knowing how useful ultrasound was for me.

good luck! and let me know what you decide. and if you get one, let me know how you like it!