Love this, have one arm that the bicep is always full of pain, Xrays show arthritis in the shoulder joint of that arm, but using the scroll wheel of the computer mouse is what seems to aggravate it the most. The knot is through the outer bicep, so with this video, I started using a rollerball along with the heating pad I always used to help, until my massage therapist opens up. Love the advice ( and really liked knowing it was from someone I knew, way back when, lol)
Thanks so much Eva! Great to hear from you :) Sorry to hear about the arm pain, hopefully the little bit of release you're trying with the rollerball will help!
huh! all these years and I didn't really understand what a trigger point really is! Thanks for the clarity! Now to dig out that ball and see if I can crack this nut in my muscle.
Glad it was helpful! Good luck on your journey to try and work with that trigger point ;) just make sure you don't push on it for too long or too hard! I wouldn't do any kind of self release for more than a few minutes at a time, and make sure it doesn't feel worse after you push on it.
Hi Jonah! I’m in massage school, and I still haven’t found a clear answer to this question: are ‘trigger points’ and ‘muscle knots’ the same thing? Is it possible to have a trigger point without a muscle knot, or vice versa? It seems like when I work with people, not all palpable tight spots in the muscles refer pain or even feel tender...whereas some spots that refer, I don’t feel any muscle contraction there at all! So I’m not sure what to call these - trigger points, or muscle knots, or something else?
Hi Elena! Great question, it's definitely a bit confusing as the terms often get used interchangeably. I think the way that I would separate them out is that "muscle knots" are an over-generalization that gets used to reference any painful region within a muscle. Essentially, any muscle pain could be referred to by someone as a muscle knot since the name isn't really specific. Trigger points have specific properties, in that they have the characteristic twitch response and referred pain patterns. Essentially, the way that I think of them is that "muscle knot" is a bucket terminology (it's a colloquialism) that includes all sorts of tense bundles or painful regions within a muscle. A "trigger point" has specific characteristics that classify it as such. So, a trigger point could always be referred to as a muscle knot, however a muscle knot does not always refer to a trigger point. Some of this distinction comes from muscles being shortened, vs. being in tone, or tonic. A shortened muscle is unlikely to have trigger points or reactivity, it's shortened because of prolonged periods held in shortened positions. It may still be painful when pressed but is not likely to react like a tonic muscle, or a muscle that's being held in an actively contractile state. Said differently, you could push into a muscle that's tight (shortened) which would cause pain and someone would say that you found their muscle knot. However, the lack of local twitch response or referred pain from the muscle would not classify this as a trigger point. Hope this is helpful in distinguishing between the two :)
It's definitely possible! Although obviously hard to say without seeing in person. Try doing some soft tissue release on the trap and see if that helps!
Great video! Very informative!
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Love this, have one arm that the bicep is always full of pain, Xrays show arthritis in the shoulder joint of that arm, but using the scroll wheel of the computer mouse is what seems to aggravate it the most. The knot is through the outer bicep, so with this video, I started using a rollerball along with the heating pad I always used to help, until my massage therapist opens up. Love the advice ( and really liked knowing it was from someone I knew, way back when, lol)
Thanks so much Eva! Great to hear from you :)
Sorry to hear about the arm pain, hopefully the little bit of release you're trying with the rollerball will help!
huh! all these years and I didn't really understand what a trigger point really is! Thanks for the clarity! Now to dig out that ball and see if I can crack this nut in my muscle.
Glad it was helpful! Good luck on your journey to try and work with that trigger point ;) just make sure you don't push on it for too long or too hard! I wouldn't do any kind of self release for more than a few minutes at a time, and make sure it doesn't feel worse after you push on it.
Hi Jonah! I’m in massage school, and I still haven’t found a clear answer to this question: are ‘trigger points’ and ‘muscle knots’ the same thing? Is it possible to have a trigger point without a muscle knot, or vice versa?
It seems like when I work with people, not all palpable tight spots in the muscles refer pain or even feel tender...whereas some spots that refer, I don’t feel any muscle contraction there at all! So I’m not sure what to call these - trigger points, or muscle knots, or something else?
Hi Elena!
Great question, it's definitely a bit confusing as the terms often get used interchangeably.
I think the way that I would separate them out is that "muscle knots" are an over-generalization that gets used to reference any painful region within a muscle. Essentially, any muscle pain could be referred to by someone as a muscle knot since the name isn't really specific.
Trigger points have specific properties, in that they have the characteristic twitch response and referred pain patterns.
Essentially, the way that I think of them is that "muscle knot" is a bucket terminology (it's a colloquialism) that includes all sorts of tense bundles or painful regions within a muscle. A "trigger point" has specific characteristics that classify it as such.
So, a trigger point could always be referred to as a muscle knot, however a muscle knot does not always refer to a trigger point.
Some of this distinction comes from muscles being shortened, vs. being in tone, or tonic. A shortened muscle is unlikely to have trigger points or reactivity, it's shortened because of prolonged periods held in shortened positions. It may still be painful when pressed but is not likely to react like a tonic muscle, or a muscle that's being held in an actively contractile state.
Said differently, you could push into a muscle that's tight (shortened) which would cause pain and someone would say that you found their muscle knot. However, the lack of local twitch response or referred pain from the muscle would not classify this as a trigger point.
Hope this is helpful in distinguishing between the two :)
Can a trigger point feel like a hard pea sized dot? cause that’s what I feel in my trap, don’t know if it’s normal tho
It's definitely possible! Although obviously hard to say without seeing in person. Try doing some soft tissue release on the trap and see if that helps!