The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief (A New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook)

A fully updated, evidence-based guide to relieving chronic pain, fascia and myofascia dysfunction, muscle tension, and trigger points―naturally and effectively.

Do you struggle with chronic pain, tension headaches, neck pain, back pain, or unexplained aches that never seem to go away? Many cases of persistent pain are caused by problems within the muscles and myofascia: the connective tissue, or fascia, that surrounds and supports your muscles throughout the body. Small, tight knots known as myofascial trigger points can develop in overworked or injured muscles, creating pain that radiates to other areas of the body.

The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, Third Edition offers a practical, step-by-step approach to identifying and treating trigger points using safe, natural self-massage and bodywork techniques that help reduce pain and restore mobility.

Widely regarded as a classic in the field of pain relief, this bestselling workbook has helped countless readers and health professionals better understand the connection between trigger points, muscle dysfunction, posture, and referred pain.

In this updated third edition, you’ll learn how to:

• Identify and treat trigger points that contribute to chronic muscle and joint pain
• Relieve common conditions such as neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, headaches, and sciatica
• Use self-massage and trigger point therapy techniques to reduce pain naturally
• Improve circulation, flexibility, posture, and muscle function
• Recognize movement patterns and postural imbalances that contribute to pain
• Use illustrated symptom guides, muscle tests, and treatment maps to target pain more effectively
• Apply updated clinical techniques and assessments included in this expanded edition

Featuring new material by Amber Davies continuing Clair Davies’ groundbreaking work, this edition includes updated illustrations, postural assessments, muscle testing tools, and an illustrated symptom index to make self-assessment and treatment easier than ever.

Used by massage therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors, physicians, athletes, and everyday readers alike, trigger point therapy has become one of the most trusted and effective approaches for treating chronic muscular pain.

Whether you’re a healthcare professional or someone searching for lasting relief, this comprehensive workbook gives you the tools to better understand your pain―and take an active role in healing it naturally.

Now deceased, Clair Davies, NCTMB (Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork), specialized in trigger point massage for the treatment of pain. Mr. Davies’s interest in massage began when he successfully self-treated a frozen shoulder with trigger point massage. Inspired by the experience, he began an intensive private study of trigger points and referred pain. He subsequently retired from a thriving piano service business to attend the Utah College of Massage Therapy where he trained as a professional massage therapist. From his home base in Lexington, Kentucky, Mr. Davies traveled extensively with his daughter Amber, leading continuing education workshops for professionals on trigger point massage. Clair Davies died peacefully at home in 2006 of colon cancer.

Amber Davies, CMTPT, LMT, is a certified myofascial trigger point therapist and licensed massage therapist living in Louisville, Kentucky. Her interest in trigger point therapy began in the mid-1990s when she and her father, Clair, successfully ended her six-year long battle with chronic low back pain. As a clinician, educator, and author, Ms. Davies is dedicated to helping bring the treatment of myofascial pain to the mainstream of healthcare. Ms. Davies teaches continuing education for professional therapists and self-treatment to people in pain. Visit www.triggerpointbook.com for course schedules, articles, discussion groups, and other resources.

Now deceased, foreword writer David G. Simons, MD, coauthored of Travell & Simons Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual