Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Trigger Point Therapy

Definition

Trigger point therapy is a bodywork technique that involves the application of pressure to tender muscle tissue in order to relieve pain and dysfunction in other parts of the body. It may also be called myofascial (myo meaning muscle, fascial meaning connective tissue) trigger point therapy. Trigger point therapy is sometimes regarded as one of a group of treatment aproaches called neuromuscular therapy or NMT. Myotherapy, developed by Bonnie Prudden, is a related type of trigger point therapy.

Origins

Trigger point therapy was developed by Dr. Janet Travell in the United States in the 1940s; she is credited with having first used the phrase "trigger point" in print in 1942. Through her work and events in her personal life, Travell...