There are lots of long words used in medicine which sound very fancy or intimidating. They were created by doctors when they knew much less than we know now to make them sound much smarter than they were. Usually the words are just descriptive. For example ‘Erythema Toxicum Neonatorum’ which means ‘toxic red newborn’ actually describes a splotchy rash that newborns get that is completely normal, and gets better naturally.
It sounds scary, but isn’t at all. It’s just describing something (inaccurately at that.)
Myo is the Greek word for muscle. It actually describes skeletal muscle which is the muscle that moves your joints and you have total control over.
Then there is heart muscle and smooth muscle which occurs in your blood vessels and in your gut, and your control over these muslces is indirect. So your brain sets this control depending on many factors, and one of these factors is emotions. For instance, when you are under stress, your blood pressure may go up because the vessels go into spasm. Or some people get irritable bowel syndrome where their gut goes into spasm.
What is Fascia?
Fascia is the glue that holds all the joints and muscles of your body together. If you were to strip off your skin, you would find a glistening second layer covering all your muscles, almost like a superhero suit. This is the fascia. It smooths out movements by coordinating the individual muscles into groups which pull together. (And it stops your insides from falling out onto the road.)
It also has lots of nerve endings. Irritation of these nerve endings causes the complex pain patterns of myofascial pain.
Syndrome is a collection of symptoms. Again, this is just a descriptive word. It is different from a disease. A disease is a destructive process like cancer which if you do nothing about it will spread. But a syndrome is a malfunction which isn’t destructive.
So if you have myofascial syndrome, it is a malfunction of the muscle and the fascia. It isn’t dangerous or destructive, but it can be very painful and distressing. It’s important to know this distinction. Understanding that there is no damage ocurring, even though it’s painful can make the whole thing less scary.
Related posts:
After Jonathan Kuttner had a serious hangliding accident above the cliffs of his home coastline, he had 6 years of chronic back pain.
This lead him to specialise in treating....
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Jonathan greetings from the global warming climate of kansas and even washinton dc where a hugh blizzard is…my hat is off to al gore as he may make a billion dollars on his nobel prize..frankly he and Obama need to be partners….guess this tells you about my 87 year old political views we keep giving money away and the printing press is running 7 days a week. But back to your trigger point theraphy found it fascinating and one th md orthopedic told me uses trigger points and infra red heating pads and ultra sound. many of my fellow tennis players are full of pain and im the latest first time in mynlife that is a chropracter told me it was the psoas muscle and it is your back etc that can also suffer from this and spine one side larger than the other, so am not sure what to do am not in favor of ultra sound or a heat pad infr red but do believe in trigger points and outside of this md about 48 years old you have been great in explaining some of these things but am still in the primary stage of what you have is it a seriews of videos to explain and use this method personally? think you sent me something on your program and am definitely interested in purchasing this method as fullyntrust you and if you were in Kansas City you could join my elite group of tennis and table tennis players. am at a club with 14 indoors and 8 outdoors etc neat place. So let me know where I go from here and can i actually treat psoas muscle myself through the videos. You do a wonderful job with these trigger points and sound advice thanks bill Guilfoil
Hi Jonathan, I have a long standing issue of what I believe is a trigger point around my waist area. It has been giving me back muscle spasms leading to stiff muscles and resulting in me walking in a bent position and in pain. I have been to a physiotherapist who has been massaging me and even gave me a dry injection. It has since responded positively though occasionally I do get relapses. The trigger point is so lumpy such that it is not reducing in size by much and I still do experience some pain. Could it be that may be I am not doing enough to get rid of this TP and what would be your advice as to the way forward from here. I was even thinking of may be operation out of frustration.Would going to the gym be of help at this stage?
hello Lebogang
Is this lump in front, side or back of the waist area? There are various triggers which occurred in the waist area, in the back there may be trigger points in the quadratus lumborum muscle, in the side and front you can find trigger points in the external oblique and rectus abdominis muscles.
however since I am not able to examine you I am not sure that the lump is a trigger point and would suggest that your medical practitioner rules out other causes.
I have produced a new product which shows the diagnosis & treatment of these specific trigger points in video form. This will be on the web in the near future. You can purchase it if you so choose.
Kind Regards
Jonathan
Please note- I cannot suggest a specific treatment for your complaint as I have not taken a full history, examined you or reviewed your investigations.
Therefore all comments I make can only be general – relating broadly to the problem you have described.
Hi
I realy don’t know how to put this in to words. But hear it goes my spine is down below my cosile bone and the nerve endings are being crushed. I have been told that I have a 50 out 0f 50 of surgier working to help. they say its at a stage 2 there are only 4 stages that my spine can go.then they say its my be toltel in mobility. sorry my spelling is not that good. I looked up the surgier on WMD. And they show a cage being put in the spine and pulling the spin apart then they put the cage in. Then they open the never endings on each side why I am not sure. I think its to give the nerves room to not be squezed. I you can help me in anyway even if its just some word from you.
thank you in avance
P.S I have fms and cronicpain I belive its called myofasica
{ 2 trackbacks }