Healing Benefits of Pressure Point Massage

As a massage therapist, I have experienced  the benefits of using acupressure on clients. The healing of trigger point therapy can have a profound affect on people suffering from a variety of ailments. 

Some of the pain you can overcome using acupressure, or trigger point therapy include fibromyalgia, chronic myofascial pain, lower back pain, carpal tunnel and tennis elbow, arthritis, headaches, sore knees and feet, and sports and repetitive strain injuries. These are but a few conditions which can be effectively treated by an experienced massage therapist. 

In addition to receiving massage to treat these symptoms, one can also learn to treat oneself. I will provide a few examples of how to perform acupressure on you painful areas. I will describe how to locate some common trigger points and how to manipulate them to relieve pain.

Most people suffer from occasional headaches, due to stress, tension or exhaustion. This is a great place to learn this type of therapy. When suffering from a headache, begin by gently putting steady pressure on your temples, on both sides. After about one minute, rub the temple gently but firmly in a circular motion. Next, gently squeeze the bridge of your nose. Don't pinch it hard, but apply moderate pressure, again for about one minute. From the bridge of the nose, work the fingertips of both hands across the brow, out toward your hairline. Next, press your index fingers firmly on either side of your nose, gently pressing down and out, slightly opening the nostrils. Hold for about one minute, breathing deeply. Gently grasp each earlobe and pull down gently, then grasp the outer edge of the ear and pull out. There are a lot of nerves in the ear, and this relieves tension. After tugging the ears, reach your hands toward the back of your neck. Find the spot on your neck where your neck meets your skull, on either side of your spine. Gently rub this spot. By now, hopefully, your headache will be less, if not gone completely.

Another great pressure point for headache relief is located on the hand, on the web of skin between the thumb and index finger. Apply firm pressure in a circular motion for about a minute to each hand. This relieves headache pain as well as other referred pain in the hands and wrists.

A second area of pain, which is easily relieved through trigger point therapy is the feet. Pain in the feet affect many other areas in the body. For the feet, gently roll each toe between your fingers. Next, apply gentle pressure to the area between each toe. Finally, rub you thumb firmly across the bottom of your foot, then down the length of each foot.

If you suffer from plantar fasciitis, a good remedy is to roll a tennis ball under the ball of your feet in the evening. A frozen water bottle rolled along the ball of the foot also relieves the pain. 

These are but two areas which can easily be treated by acupressure. If you have questions about treating other painful areas, let me know and I can give you some easy points to work, to relieve your pain.