Trigger Points

All approaches aim to increase [blank] flow to areas of tension and to release painful knots of muscle known as ' trigger points.' 'Trigger points are tense areas of muscle that are almost constantly contracting,' says Kippen. ' The contraction causes pain, which in turn causes contraction, so you have a vicious circle. This is what deep tissue massage aims to break.' The way to do this, as I found out under Ogedengbe' s elbow, is to [blank] pressure to the point, stopping the blood flow, and then to release, which causes the brain to flood the affected [blank] with blood, encouraging the muscle to relax. At the same time, says Kippen, you can fool the tensed muscle into relaxing by applying pressure to a complementary one nearby. ' If you cause any muscle to contract, its [blank] will expand. So you try to trick the body into relaxing the muscle that is in spasm.'