Treating myofascial trigger points
This course is designed to be taken alongside our face to face course.
This VLE course has been designed to help teach you how to diagnose and locate trigger points and their referral patterns in myofascial tissues. You will learn how to use acupuncture to deactivate trigger points and apply specific stretches to affected muscles to restore a patient’s full range of movement.
This course will provide you with an introduction to treating trigger points in the neck and shoulder using acupuncture and offer theoretical approaches used in Western-style management of myofascial trigger points.
It has been uniquely produced for practicing acupuncturists and offers insight into the theory and Western evidence-based background of trigger points. Practical needling sessions will be conducted under supervision in a safe and stimulating environment.
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You will be introduced to the basic principles and theory underpinning the principles of trigger point therapy, which was founded on the work of Travell and Simons.
By the end of the blended learning session you will:
- Have developed an understanding of the basics of the western concept of pain
- Have refreshed and revised your understanding of the basic muscle/tendon unit, and developed an understanding of diagnosis, location of trigger points.
- Learnt how to apply appropriate needling technique to de-activate trigger points and develop an understanding of appropriate muscle stretching.
- Have a structure for clinical reasoning that is evidence based, and current literature will be explored to review the evidence of efficacy.
- Covered current research, patient trials, and selected case studies will be used to show how trigger point techniques may be integrated into a treatment.
The aims of this online course are to teach already accredited therapists about trigger points (TrP).
- Where do they come from,
- where to find them and recognise them
- How to treat these painful ‘knots’ in muscles so that pain is relieved.
- To teach understanding about the causes of trigger points, as well as effective and safe ways to treat trigger points.
It’s important to understand that trigger point treatment alone is not enough. The local treatment of trigger points needs to be integrated with education of the patient.