Saturday, June 3, 2017

Massage and the Future of Medicine

Trigger point therapy for muscles. Brief review of "The Frozen Shoulder Workbook", by Clair Davies.

For anyone with muscle issues, trigger point therapy can be a profound experience. This is the palpation, detection, and deep massage of any muscle that has "knots" in it, which are also called trigger points. Such knots can arise from overuse or trauma, and can last for years, impairing use of the muscle, and, in the case of the shoulder, causing a cascade of impairment that comes to be known as frozen shoulder syndrome. Clair Davies' book is a thorough guide through this thicket, and brings to light issues that mainstream medicine seems to be rather slow in picking up.


Indeed, one could imagine that every general physical appointment, which now focuses on a few metrics of internal medicine, such as blood pressure and blood chemistry, might start with lengthy session of skilled massage. This would bring therapeutic massage into the medical setting, where it belongs, relax the patient while attending to key muscle issues that have been building up over the preceeding year, and also provide an entry to many other medical issues the patient may be having, like skin lesions and internal pain.  Something a little shamanic, but also holistic and integrative, changing the medical encounter for the better.