When you wake up in the morning with a knot in your leg, have you ever wished there was a button you could push and have the pain would go away? There is! Relief can be at your fingertips: There may be a tender spot in your muscle tissue somewhere.
You just need to explore your own bod, each arm & leg for your 'personal' tender button(s).
This spot (or spots) can really hurt when you press on it: it's called a "trigger point" & may feel like a knot or small bump that can range in size from a pinhead to the size of a pea (it may even be the size of your small fingernail in larger muscles).
Trigger points can cause any pain, anywhere! They can cause headaches, eye pain, jaw pain, low back pain, tennis elbow, wrist pain, joint pain, etc.
In addition to pain, the effects of these built-in 'knots' can include limited range of motion, muscle weakness, numbness or tingling.
There are two trigger point types:

1. An active trigger point will frequently refer pain to other areas of the body & it's painful when pressed.
   (The Japanese call these "Ah-shi" points; we call them 'ouch' points!
2. A latent point is a silent point (no pain, but like a cell phone silently waiting to ring).
   It may feel like a lump or knot & may produce pain when pressed.
   

So the pain you may have in your head may actually come from a point in your leg or the pain in your lower back may originate from muscles in your hip.
Some such points cause stress (poor posture, prolonged keyboard use, eye strain, muscle strain, etc).
Trigger points are also thought to be activated by poor nutrition, vitamin deficiency, depression, anxiety, even low thyroid levels.
These points make muscles tight, slowing blood flow, compressing nerves, even causing a endless pain/spasm cycle in muscles.
This can result in decreased flexibility, limited movement and bad postural patterns that may continue the cycle for years.
Trigger point therapy and some soft-tissue therapies are effective methods to help you get relief from the pain that trigger points bring (trigger points do hurt when compressed).
Some people are reluctant to have trigger point therapy done for this reason.
There are newer soft-tissue therapies that can be amazingly effective by relaxing muscle, its attachments & the nervous system {some soft-tissue therapies can bypass these painful points.
{e.
g.
, Naturopathic GentleTouch Therapy, Myofascial Therapy, etc.
} If you're doing your own pressure-point therapy, a repeated 'stroking' action can move the blood and lymph fluid out efficiently.
To work out your own tender points, begin by warming the affected muscle with slow, repeated muscle strokes along the entire length of a coarse 'band' that can be felt within the muscle.
Work from one end of the muscle to the other.
Your pressure should start out light, and gradually increase.
Follow this with pressing upon on that tender point.
Hold for 7-10 seconds, breathing deeply.
Then release the pressure & move the affected part through its range of motion so that you can feel the release of your 'personal' point.
When deciding what good pain versus bad pain is, aim at a pain level of 7 on a scale of 1-10.
You decide what you can tolerate.
Repeat each sequence of pressure & movement; until your pain level is lowered to about 2-3.
Often you will see some immediate improvement but don't worry if it takes you a few sessions to feel relief.
Used correctly, trigger point therapy can be a great tool in helping to reduce your pain & gain greater range of motion.
"A Hand Full of First Aid, Plus!" is a do-it-yourself handbook that shows-&-tells how, when & where to use over 150 of these pressure spots.
You can download it today at: http://www.
totlhealth.
com/manuals.
html, if you wish.