On any given day 130 million Americans suffer with some form of non-malignant pain. Pain is the most frequent symptom that patients present with to their clinician in the industrial world. The respected researchers, Melzack and Wall (1988), have reported in their studies that myofascial trigger points are a key element in all chronic pain. Furthermore, they found that trigger points are often the main factor in maintaining chronic pain. This chronic pain is caused by hyperirritable tissues in muscles, fascia, tendons and ligaments, known as trigger point or fascial adhesions. These myofascial trigger points cause local tenderness and joint dysfunction in the areas of involvement, as well as referral pains to other areas of their body. These myofascial trigger points are what plague people with chronic headaches, neck pain, shoulder-arm pain, back and leg pain, joint stiffness and generalized fatigue. Their problems can be localized to one region (e.g. chronic shoulder-arm pain after a game of golf or yard work) or it can be generalized throughout the body (fibromyalgia) causing chronic pain and fatigue for years. Understanding the cause of these chronic Myofascial pain disorders, knowing how to effectively and efficiently control the pain and rehabilitate the underlying problem, can explode your practice. The 85% of Americans who suffer with one or more episodes of chronic myofacial pain now come looking for you!

Myofascial Trigger Points:

	Can cause pain as severe as heart attacks, broken bones, and renal colic, according to those who have experienced both severe TPs and these conditions.
	Or they can be painless causing stiffness, as well as limited range of motion and joint dysfunction in your patients, setting them up for recurring problems and care dissatisfaction.
	They cause millions of Americans to become addicted to pain killers
	Furthermore, 17 million are hospitalized and nearly 17,000 bleed to death from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alone.