There is information about muscle pain that is not included in the training of most medical professionals. Here are 5 things that are helpful to know in understanding your pain, things that I’ve learned as a Neuromuscular Therapist practicing in my 19th year in the Boston area.
1) Structural imbalances (like leg length inequality) cause muscle tension and can lead to or perpetuate pain.
2) Trigger Points refer symptoms away from or around the source, so when no spinal nerve or local reason can be found for pain, it’s probably a Trigger Point.
3) Numbness and abnormal sensations are never OK. It means that nerve signals (and probably blood flow) are being compromised somewhere and will cause more problems and pain down the line.
4) Active Trigger Points (those that refer pain at rest) produce nine biochemical compounds, all of which are known to cause pain locally.
5) Painful weak muscles don’t always mean that a patient is deconditioned and needs strengthening. There are many reasons for weakness.
There’s a lot of great value in non-traditional pain treatment. (though that’s harder to prove with clinical tests.)
I’ve personally found trigger points to be a thing worth looking into to relieve muscle pain and tension.