243 Corey Avenue, Saint Pete Beach, Florida 33706, United States
WHat is Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT)?
Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT) is a scientific method of therapy based on precise postural measurements to find mechanical disfunctions in the body and correct them by treating the soft tissue that is associated with any postural distortions. NMT addresses any postural distortions, biomechanical dysfunctions, ischemia (lack of blood flow) trigger points, nerve entrapment/compression and sources of the dysfunctions. It is particularly effective in treating chronic pain.
What is a Trigger point?
According to Janet Travell, MD,Trigger Points are defined as “a focus of hyperirritability in a tissue that, when compressed, is locally tender and, if sufficiently hypersensitive, gives rise to referred pain and tenderness.” In other words, a trigger point is a localized spasm or knot in the muscle fiber that may cause referred pain to another, more distant parts of the body. As an example, headaches very often are caused by trigger points in the suboccipital (base of the skull) muscles
Who is janet Travell?
In America, in the 1940s and 50s, Dr. Janet Travell established herself as a specialist in treating muscle pain and referred trigger point pain and published numerous journals on the research she was doing with Trigger Points. In 1983, Travell and David Simons, MD, published the first of two trigger point texts ‘Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction – The Trigger Point Manual Vol 1’.
Even decades later, The Trigger Point Manuals are still considered by many to be the gold standard in trigger point treatment protocols. Travell primarily used injections to treat Trigger Points but includes a significant emphasis on massage therapy and other manual techniques in her manuals. Janet Travell became the first female White House Physician and treated President Kennedy with Trigger Point injections to relax “cramps” in his spinal muscles.
In the United States, NMT evolved in a direction that was far more focused on myofascial pain in general,influenced by Travell, and trigger points in particular.
To read more about this pioneer in the medical world, please refer to this article. It is a brief synopsis of the accomplishments of Janet Travell: https://www.amwa-doc.org/faces/janet-g-travell-md/