In my very first Massage Monday back in 2010, I wanted to review a good massage app on my phone but there weren’t many and I just couldn’t find it. Eight years later there are so many more apps now and I found a really good one for Trigger Point Therapy.
It’s called Muscle Trigger Points by Real Bodywork.
[one_third_first]iOS version:
[/one_third_first][one_third]Droid version:
[/one_third][one_third_last]Microsoft version:
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This app is designed for practitioners like massage therapists, physical therapists and chiropractors but I’ll show you why it’s also useful for anyone not familiar with human anatomy.
When you open the app you can choose the area of your concern by the muscles. You can pick a specific muscle of your concern from the picture in the front of the body or the back of the body. You can also select it from the list.
Let’s pick Occipitalis on the head. The trigger point is shown with X and the blue area is the referred pain pattern. So in this case, the trigger point is in the back of the head which can cause a headache in the back and the side of the head and the pain behind the eye.
When you select the menu it explains the referred pain pattern, what the muscles do, origin and insertion of the muscle, associated nerves, and comments.
Let’s look at another one trapezius or “traps.” This muscle has lots of trigger points and pain patterns. In fact, there are four different pictures. The first ones cause the pain on the side of the neck, head, and even jaw. The second ones cause the pain in the upper back and neck. The third ones cause the pain right next to them. And the fourth one causes pain right there locally.
This one comes with comments that says “This is the number one muscle in the human body that gets the most trigger point. A common cause of headaches.” And it even comes with a video on how to treat the trigger points which is super helpful for the practitioners.
If you have no clue about muscles, no problem. Just go to Zones and select the zone where you have a pain, especially if you have an old persistent pain that does not go away.
Let’s pick the neck area. You see five different muscles listed that can cause the neck pain including Trapezius that we just saw. Go to each muscle and swipe through to see if it shows the pain pattern that you are experiencing. You may be surprised where the referred pain is possibly coming from because the trigger points may be located in a very remote area.
Then, with that knowledge, make an appointment with a licensed professional such as massage therapist, physical therapist, and chiropractor who understands Trigger Point Therapy to work on those trigger points to release them and release you from the pain.
You can also self-treat it. For self-treatment, I highly recommend this book Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, Thera Cane and lacrosse ball. I have done videos on how to treat yourself using Trigger Point Therapy approach too.
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook
When I was looking at this app, I also saw a bundle deal called Anatomy Master which also comes with Muscle Anatomy, Skeletal Anatomy, 3D Organs and Anatomy Quiz Pro. Who doesn’t like a great deal so I purchased this bundle as a good reference and refresher.
Massage Monday #404 – The Best Trigger Point App: Muscle Trigger Points http://bit.ly/mm-404