How Myofascial Therapy Can Prevent and Relieve the Symptoms of the Myofascial Pain

Chronic myofascial pain, in all of its various forms, has been successfully treated through myofascial therapy. Chronic pain hinders a person’s productivity, as well as their family life and their overall enjoyment of life can be hindered because of it. While many may continue to live with the pain, accepting that it is just a part of their lives, many are resolved to search out the reasons why and the treatments available that will relieve them of its presence. Myofascial treatment has become a welcome component of pain relief that has shown great promise for some of those who suffer from the effects of chronic pain.

Myofascial therapy, in its many various and effectual forms, techniques and procedures, can effectively prevent and relieve the symptoms of the myofascial tissues.

While some use the term myofascial therapy to include a myriad of soft tissue treatments, this term is very often misconstrued. A prime example of this misinterpretation would be that of a physician focusing his or her treatment on the injured ligaments, of say, a sports injury. Application of the term “myofascial treatment or therapy” in this case in point would be an error. The error of course being that the ligaments themselves are not muscle as in “myo,“ nor are they the connective tissue of the muscle, or thus the “fascia.”

However, the injury of a ligament may very well be causative of inducing protective muscle contractions, causing these contractions to become a clinical problem, especially if a biomechanical imbalance is present or compression activates what are calling, “myofascial trigger points.” Nevertheless, treatments applied to the offending area may very well prove effective whether the treatment method is mislabeled or not.

Many people seek relief from ailments such as lower back pain, trauma, spinal misalignment or compressed nerves from a herniated disc. Many times this pain is caused by the induction of myofascial tightness, or what is called “protective guarding” if you will, within the fascial or connective tissue that surrounds each muscle. These restrictions play a considerable role in creating pain and/or malfunction within the spine or extremities as well as that of the organs. Therefore, what is myofascial therapy and how can it help?

Myofascial therapy is a treatment consisting of needling and stretching, which releases the tightness and its associated pain throughout the myofascia. Below we will provide an overview of this treatment method.

Firstly, muscle palpation should be performed by the practitioner allowing a proper assessment to be made in identifying the trigger points, which is causative of the patient’s pain. Finding these trigger points will be of utmost importance in reversing the shortening of the muscle fibers. There are two methods commonly used to achieve this: Myofascial Release and/or what is called “needling.” In the case of myofascial release, this method should be used when the associated pain is less than severe, thereby causing difficulty in identifying the active trigger points. However, needling is preferred when pain is severe in the patient and the active trigger points are set deep and harder to reach. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on the needling method of treatment.

The needling method may be performed in one of two ways. The method of “dry needling” (performed without administration of drugs), can involve two methods: superficial needling or deep needling.

Using the superficial needling method involves insertion of a needle just above the located trigger point. The needle is then left in this position for approximately 20 minutes, thereby stimulating an endorphin release and thus effecting neuromuscular changes. The deep needling method, or direct needling method as it is sometimes called, involves insertion of the needle into the located trigger point, causing a local twitch response. If this first insertion fails to activate a local twitch response quickly, the needle is then re-inserted at different angles until the desired response has occurred.

Myofascial therapy may include medications such as anesthetics, corticosteroids, saline and botulinum toxin, can be injected into the trigger points. This technique is termed “Spray & Stretch”, and includes a cooling agent and electrotherapy. Stretching and movement exercises are paramount to the patients sustained pain relief and should be performed immediately after needling is performed. Treatment sessions tend to last approximately an hour in full. In addition, the patient should be advised to perform stretching and movement exercises daily as well as give attention to his or her posture. Those suffering severe pain may require two sessions per week, however, one session per week is common. In some cases, if the patient has suffered untreated chronic pain for a long period of time several treatments may be required before sustained relief occurs.