This is the only self-help book designed to help the layperson to treat themselves for painful trigger points with massage. Trigger point therapy is one of the most intriguing and fastest-growing bodywork styles in the world. Medical doctors, chiropractors, and alternative health practitioners are all beginning to use this technique to relieve the pain of individuals suffering from undiagnosable soft tissue pain-a condition that studies have shown to be the cause of nearly 25 percent of all doctor visits. The technique involves applying a gentle, sweeping stroke to trigger points, places in muscle or connective tissue where a lack of oxygen causes swelling. These points are easily located by general readers and create pain throughout the body in predictable patterns characteristic to each muscle, producing discomfort ranging from mild to severe. The stimulation of the point causes an increase in the oxygen level in the area and often produces instant relief.

The first edition of The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook has made a huge impact in the use of this dynamic technique. This is the first major revision of the overnight classic, a complete update that includes new information specifically for massage professionals as well as a detailed discussion of progressive muscle relaxation techniques that can reinforce the therapeutic power of trigger point work.

Reviews

There has been a great need for a comprehensive and easy-to-use resource to help patients identify individual myofascial trigger points and treat themselves. Clair Davies’s Trigger Point Therapy Workbook fills that need. I believe this book will help end a great deal of needless suffering and prevent a great deal of unnecessary surgery.
—Devin Starlanyl,author of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain and The Fibromyalgia Advocate

This is a splendid self-help book for people with persistent musculoskeletal pain. It tells you how to identify the problem and carefully guides you through the process of self-treatment. The principles of treating myofascial pain and myofascial trigger points developed by Drs. Janet Travell and David Simons form the basis of this book, and are well presented for use by individuals with pain.
—Robert D. Gerwin, MD, neurologist and author of Myofascial Pain: An Integrated Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment (video series)

I have long been a believer in and practitioner of trigger point therapy. I certainly recommend this book to the general public and health care practitioners. It is truly an excellent resource and provides the tools that induce self-healing and empowerment.
—Bernie S. Siegel, MD, author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles andPrescriptions for Living and former student of Janet Travell, MD, author of Travell and Simons’ Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual

This is . . . a well-organized, easy-to-use handbook that will indeed help sufferers of myofascial pain learn to treat themselves with effective self-massage techniques. The detail and clarity of the book's format will also make it invaluable to pain physicians who want to be able to teach their patients useful, simple strategies to manage soft tissue pain problems.
—Joseph F. Audette, MD, instructor at Harvard Medical School and director of Outpatient Pain Services at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Medford, MA

This is a useful book for anyone in chronic pain. There are few resources like this one, which empowers the reader to understand the problem and offers the tools to manage it. The approach to managing pain described in this book will help many take control of a significant part of their health and will become a valuable lifelong reference.
—Scott M. Fishman, MD, chief of the Division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of California, Davis and author of The War on Pain