Are acupressure points the same as trigger points?

In clinic we frequently see clients who had an issue with either their neck or shoulder or their lower back that was resolved then a few weeks or months later they are back with the same issue.  So why does this happen?  First, it depends upon the client, as human body is unique and the issue. What I want to explain below are some influencing factors: Posture – Because lots of clients come to us in pain, when they walk out of clinic they are very vigilant about their posture.  When they start to feel like the issue has been resolved good posture becomes less of a priority.  More importantly bad posture creeps up on us slowly – particularly slumping at you desk when you have a tight deadline! Over training – One of the most common questions we get asked, is when “will I be able to go to the gym again?” – clients are always very eager to get back training.  If you are unable to train for a while, you need to gentle easy yourself back into training.  Over training is when the physical trauma from exercising occurs faster than the body can repair the damage. Overuse – An overuse injury typically stems from: training errors. Training errors can occur when you take on too much physical activity too quickly i.e. when you are training for a marathon you build up your distance and speed too quickly.

Following on from my introduction to hypertension and lifestyle factors, I want to explore the link between diet and hypertension in this blog. Optimise your Gut Flora Compared to a placebo, people with high blood pressure who consumed probiotics lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 3.56 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by 2.38 mm Hg¹.  Including taking probiotics, its is helpful to avoid sugar and processed foods.  I should mention that naturally fermented foods in your diet, may contain about 100 times the amount of bacteria than found in a bottle of high potency probiotics. But I appreciate form a practical point of view, buying probiotics is much easier! Eat a Healthy Diet I appreciate this is very common advice.  In 1998 in the journal of Diabetes reported that nearly two-thirds of the test subjects who were insulin resistant also high high blood pressure.  Insulin resistance is directly attributed to a high sugar, high carbohydrate diet especially if combined with inadequate exercise. Avoiding processed foods (due to their being high in sugar/fructose, grains, trans fat, and other damaged fats) is my number one recommendation if you have high blood pressure². Instead, make whole, ideally organic, foods the focus of your diet. As you reduce processed foods, and other sources of non-vegetable carbs, from your diet, you’ll want to replace them with healthy fat. Read Part 4 References ¹ Hypertension July 21, 2014 ² Metabolism. 2012 May;61(5):641-51.

Obviously I am a firm believer of massage in the workplace, so I will start by acknowledging my bias on the topic.  What people may not know is that during the many years working in IT, I suffered from a verity of neck and shoulder issues.  This lead me to go to see a GP, chiropractor, osteopath and masseur.  While they all helped, what was most beneficial to me was regular seated acupressure neck & shoulder massage which helped me nip the tension and the problems in the bud. We all know getting a massage feels great. Once your massages starts, the nerve cells in your skin send messages to your brain to release feel-good endorphins .  As a result stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline begin to decrease and the other all effect is to boost your mood and give you a natural high.  On a physical level the tension and tightness in the muscles begin to release. This means your awareness shifts so your mind and body can function better.  Researches find your mind gets de-cluttered helping you to think more clearly, improve your alertness which leads to improve performance. So why not book a massage see>> http://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/booking