Trigger points
http://www.pressurepointer.com/Press...nterManual.pdf
I get the damn things all of the time. My wife is pretty good at massaging them out. Before I knew what they were, I used to suffer for days on end when they would crop up. The most common for me is upper back along the spine that makes it almost impossible to turn my head, the point of the shoulder (rotator cuff) and the lower back. Now when I feel the twinges coming on, I let my wife torture me, I mean work out the points and the pain is gone within a day.
Three years ago, I got this sudden lower back pain that made it almost impossible to roll over at night. Walking was painful and I could barely tolerate to ride in the car to go to the doctor. Coughing or even sniffing hard would almost put me on the floor. The pain went from my lower back through the pelvis and down into the groin.
The doctor checked for a hernia but didn't find one. He next decided that it was epididymitis and gave me antibiotics. That didn't do anything, so a week later, they ran a CT scan on my back ($1200 out of pocket
) but didn't find anything. After another week, they were talking exploratory surgery.
I wasn't too excited about that idea so took to the internet to see if there were other options. I came across the saveyourself.ca site and read through a bunch of his stuff. I decided to give the trigger point therapy a try.
The quatratus lumborum muscle sounded like the most likely one:
Quote:
Quadratus Lumborum Symptoms & Findings
The signs and symptoms associated with active quadratus lumborum trigger points are as follows:
Severe, deep, aching low back pain during movement or rest, and in nearly any position, but worse in the upright posture of standing or sitting.
A sharp, knifelike pain when moving the hips/pelvis is common.
Client’s will attempt to support and stabilize their upper body with their hands. This bracing with the hands occurs during walking and sitting, and is the hallmark sign of active QL trigger points.
Coughing and sneezing can creating episodes of agonizing pain as the muscle contracts to stabilize the rib cage.
Clients may be forced to crawl on their hands and knees to the bathroom when getting out of bed in the morning.
Clients will be unable to roll to either side when laying in a face-up position.
The pain from untreated QL trigger points may progress to involve the groin, genitalia, and sciatica symptoms.
The low back pain from QL trigger points may also transform into severe hip pain over time that resembles trochanteric bursitis.
A common postural distortion with QL trigger points is an elevated hip crest on the painful side.
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http://www.triggerpointtherapist.com...low-back-pain/
My wife started working out the trigger point at the upper point shown on the above page. I had a massive TP there which hurt like a bitch while she was massaging it. However, afterward, the pain in my back and groin decreased about 60%, which was amazing. A couple of days later, I found I also had one in my mid-glute on that side. Working that one out got rid of the rest of the pain almost overnight.
A couple of things to consider with TP. The TP is not where the pain is. They cause a referred pain (much like a heart attack frequently causes pain in the arm and jaw) away from the actual TP which makes them a bit tricky to find. Do not ice them. TPs are basically intense micro muscle contractions. Icing them just makes then contract more. Intensely hot baths seem to work best. Heating pads can't get the heat deep enough so don't really work.
Sorry for the tl;dr but these things are ****ing magic.