Pain Point Pressure Therapy in combination with specific stretching exercises is an amazingly effective therapy for joint and muscle pain.
In Germany, a new manual therapy technique for pain treatments is becoming well known. The founders are claiming it as a “revolution in pain therapy”. Olympic Game and National Ski Teams are now under the care of doctors and physiotherapists who are trained in this technique.

Orthopedic doctors are fascinated about the fast results, especially in chronic cases. Often just a few treatments are necessary to get astonishing results and scientific research studies have been initiated to learn why this therapy is so effective. One of the interesting questions in this regard asks if cartilage, once almost gone, can be rebuilt by improvement of the connective tissue around the joint. The results are so far are very promising.

When I first read about this method I realized that it is actually very similar to what I have developed over the last 10 years based on my experiences of using long pressure on painful spots mostly on areas where tendons are connected to bones. New is the use of specific selected points and combining the treatment with special stretching exercises to stabilize and further improve the results of the manual treatment.

What is different from the conventional concept?

The therapy is based on a different understanding of the general cause of pain.

Conventional medicine sees pain as result of damage in a joint or the surrounding connective tissue, e.g. degenerated disc, calcification, inflammation etc.

The new understanding sees pain as a result of a false structural program caused by inactivity of muscles.
Pain occurs as a warning or threat of damage if we continue using the muscles in that manner. This means the arthritis of the joint or the degenerated disc is not the cause of the pain. This is at first hard to believe.

Modern diagnostics convince us that the joint or tissue is the cause of the pain.

This new concept provides proof to the contrary. It says that the cause of the pain lies in a false muscular program caused by not using these muscles. When these programs and structures are changed through pressure on specific mechano receptors in tendons, then the false program is deleted and pain disappears.

What leads to the false conclusions? We are tense, we have stress, we do too many things in a bent over position, we have a sitting life style and have over acidic tissue.

We have about 600 muscles in our body, but we only use one third of them regularly. We are not designed for a “lazy” inactive life “of remote controls”. Our muscular system follows an antagonistic principle. Tension in one muscle creates relaxation in the antagonistic one (i.g.biceps/triceps).

Our body need balanced movements to be healthy. Shortening of muscles and tendons through under-use of many parts lead to a false structural program and the result causes the pain.

Actively participating in the treatment is crucial

The client must learn to understand, to listen, and to react to the language of the body and how to re- activate and balance muscles and tendons using easy stretching exercises that create lasting results. It requires practice once or twice a day for a few minutes!

It really can be fun to see how the body reacts quickly, how pain is reduced, and the range of motion improves.

The results are astonishing and motivating. No medication is needed, no dozens of “I should not do this or that”. Also the fear of surgeries can be released. It just needs the determination to work actively in achieving the goal of living a pain free life.

Barbara Rotthaler, German certified Health Practitioner and Naturopath can be reached at 01-376 766 1987 or email: barbararotthaler@gmail.com www.ChapalaHealth.com