Trigger point therapy deals with the treatment of muscle pain that can be traced back to certain disorders within the muscles.

If you press on these areas in the muscle, the patient feels pain that spreads from the place of pressure to another region of the body. It is said that the pain radiates. Because this pressure triggers the pain, such a point in the muscle is called a trigger point .

This phenomenon was described by A. Steindler as early as 1938 for complaints in the lower back, where it was called the trigger point.

In German literature one spoke of " muscle hardness ", "muscle callosity" or "myogelosis" due to the tactile findings. In 1931 an extensive monograph by Dr. M. Lange with the title of the same name.

Even today, the content of the book has lost none of its topicality, as people's complaints are still the same. If you read the introduction to the book, it could just as easily have been taken from a modern textbook on the subject of muscular rheumatism!

In the Anglo-Saxon region, the pioneering work in the field of trigger point therapy was carried out by Dr. J. Travell (1901-1997) and later by Dr. DG Simons done.

Dr. J. Travell published an article on shoulder pain as early as 1942 , in which she pointed out the importance of trigger points as a cause of pain.

The extensive work of the two researchers culminated in 1983 with the publication of 2 volumes - “ The Trigger Point Manual - Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction”. Even today, the two works are the standard works on the subject.