Triggerpoint therapy
Much (unexplained) pain is caused by myofascial trigger points, micro contractions in the muscles. These tight spots in the muscles cause the blood vessels around them to narrow, reducing blood flow and leading to a buildup of acidity in the entire pain area. The occurrence of trigger points can have various causes. These are of both a mental and a physical nature.
I treat based on evidence-based practice, which means I base my treatments on scientific research and proven methods. This means I use techniques that have been shown to be effective, ensuring you receive the best possible care.
Examples are:
- Bad posture
- Overload or underload
- Injury
- A fall or blow
- Stress
- Sleep disorder
- Too one-sided diet
- Repressed emotions
- Perfectionism
When one muscle is overworked, the other muscles have to work harder and therefore, rarely can one muscle be involved in a complaint or discomfort. The aim of neuromuscular therapy, also known as trigger point therapy, is to help people in pain to identify the cause and then to neutralise this pain.
"There's nothing like a little physical pain to keep your mind off your emotional problems.”
Dr. E. Sarno, author of 'Healing Back pain'.
Dry needling
Dry needling is a method where trigger points in the muscles are punctured with a thin sterile needle. This causes the muscle to contract and then relax, thus releasing the contraction. This involuntary contraction of the muscle is also called a 'local twitch response' and characterises the release of the muscle.
Sometimes people are afraid that dry needling is painful. Fortunately, this is usually not the case. It is a completely safe method that is very effective in resolving pain problems quickly and effectively. You hardly feel the needle being inserted. In most cases the treated muscles feel a bit heavy or stiff after treatment. This is of short duration (up to 72 hours).
Dry needling is based on western anatomical and neurophysiological principles and is therefore substantially different from acupuncture. Acupuncture is based on Eastern medicine and aims to open the energy meridians. In addition, acupuncture involves the placement of several needles which remain in place for some time. This is not the case with dry needling, which involves a needle that causes a brief twitch response and is then immediately removed. The effect of dry needling has been scientifically proven.
Ergon® soft tissue mobilisation
The fascia is connective- and soft tissue that surrounds all structures of the body like a web. All our muscles, joints, blood vessels, nerve tissue and organs are surrounded by connective tissue. It connects everything together and makes our body a coherent and well-functioning whole.
The connective tissue (fascia) ensures that everything moves smoothly and that all connective tissue layers glide over each other. It therefore facilitates all movements in our body.
If we are overburdened or, on the contrary, exercise too little and sit in the same position for too long, suffer an injury or experience a lot of stress … our body reacts by repairing the vulnerable place in the body with extra scar tissue. This scar tissue has an irregular pattern and is very stiff. For this reason, it can lead to movement limitations or pain in muscles and joints.
If there is scar tissue and therefore adhesions in the connective tissue, the muscles cannot move easily and sometimes movement is restricted.
With the Ergon method (IASTM; Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation), the adhesions (lesions) in the connective tissue can be broken down, so that the complaints decrease and the tissue recovers. Special Ergon instruments are used for this purpose.
Functioning of IASTM
- Pain-relieving
- More flexibility
- Strength and mobility improvement
- Improving posture
Dorn method
Have you been suffering from back and joint complaints for some time, perhaps due to wear and tear? Or do you have complaints in your pelvis and/or legs as a result of a leg length discrepancy? Then the Dorn method can help. The Dorn method is a gentle treatment for vertebrae and joints that is free of undesired side effects.
Almost everyone has a small leg length discrepancy. The cause of the leg length discrepancy is almost always an excess of space in the hip joint. Since our legs are the pillars of our pelvis, it is logical that a pelvic misalignment occurs as a result of a leg length discrepancy. This fact can cause many chronic problems, such as scoliosis, lower back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain and headaches.
Misconception: People are often told that they must solve the leg length discrepancy by putting a raised sole in the shoe to compensate. Unfortunately, this mainly stabilises the pelvic tilt and therefore causes more hip and lower back pain in most cases.
Causes of leg length discrepancy, or rather, too much space in the hip joint can be: a fall, vertigo, often sitting with legs crossed, long car trips, or simply sitting a lot and for a long time.
Medical taping | Kinesio Tape
Medical taping influences the body's neurological and circulatory system and activates the body's own healing processes. It is also called kinesio taping Kinesio taping can have a stabilising effect on joints, while also stimulating muscle functions and promoting rehabilitation benefits from lymphatic drainage. Muscles, joints, the nervous system and some organs can be treated using this technique.
The tape works in different ways and has multiple applications. The tape pulls the skin up a little so that the nerve receptors under the skin get some space, pressure is reduced and the system can come to rest. The tape provides support to the muscles and joints, ensures lymphatic drainage and has a pain-relieving effect.
So how does it work? Interestingly, the tape has an adhesive layer in a wavy pattern. This is so that by moving, extra blood flow goes to the place that has been taped. The tape thus brings about a massage of the skin, as it were. The connective tissue, thus made more supple, makes a better drainage of lymphatic fluid possible. Important effect of the tape: improvement of the ‘chemical tissue environment’ because through this unique effect the ‘nocisensory substances’ are removed more quickly (substances that, via the nervous system, inform the brain of ‘pain’).
Applications
- influencing the pain system
- optimisation of muscle function
- joint function support
- reflex action on the vegetative nervous system
- posture correction
Mind- body connection
In all the years that I have been working as a therapist, I have wondered what the best formula should be to support someone who continues to suffer from persistent trigger points and recurring pain because stress or negative feelings are affecting someone's life and body. This question keeps occupying my mind because the formula is never 'finished' and is always evolving.
When a trigger point treatment does not help, the trigger points are often maintained by an (unconscious) inner conflict. This can be explained as a conflict between what you want on a conscious level and what you want on a subconscious level. Sometimes there is also a discrepancy between how you rationally think about something and what you emotionally feel about it. This causes chronically increased muscle tension and chronically reduced blood flow in certain areas of the body, where trigger points and connective tissue adhesions can arise. Doing relaxation exercises, stepping back and avoiding stress are then not enough. Practice teaches us that if someone is still in denial of the emotional cause of the pain, the pain remains present.