Trigger points refer pain somewhere other than where they live. A knot in the shoulder that surfaces as a headache. Hip tension that reads as knee pain. That referral pattern is the reason treating where it hurts so often fails. Sessions at Fit Body Therapy in Los Altos are one-on-one with Angelo dela Cruz, practicing since 1996.
Referred Pain Is the Whole Point
A trigger point is a hyperirritable spot in a taut band of muscle. Press it and it hurts locally — but it also produces sensation somewhere else, and that second location follows patterns consistent enough to have been mapped.
Some of the common ones surprise people. Points in the upper trapezius refer into the temple and behind the eye. Points in gluteus minimus refer down the leg convincingly enough to be mistaken for sciatica. Points in the scalenes refer into the arm and hand.
Which means the client’s own account of where the problem is — the most natural place to start — is frequently pointing at the destination rather than the origin.
Why Foam Rolling Usually Does Not Resolve Them
Rolling applies broad pressure across a region. A trigger point is small and specific, and finding it requires palpation that identifies the taut band and reproduces the referral — you should recognise the pain that brought you in.
There is also a location problem. Many of the points that drive stubborn symptoms sit in muscles a roller cannot reach usefully: scalenes, subscapularis, the deep hip rotators, the jaw.
Rolling is useful. It is a general tool for general tightness, and this is a specific tool for a specific finding.
How It Is Applied Here
Trigger point work is one technique inside an assessment-led orthopedic session, not a protocol delivered on its own. Finding a point is useful; understanding why that muscle has been overworking is what stops it coming back.
A point that keeps returning is usually compensating for something — a joint that is not moving well, a pattern of loading, an old injury the body organised itself around. Release it in isolation and it re-forms. That is why the session includes the mechanics around it rather than only the point itself.
Pressure is sustained and specific rather than aggressive. Provoking a bracing response works against the release.
Who Books This
- Headaches that start in the neck and shoulders rather than the head
- Pain that moves or radiates without a clear structural cause on imaging
- A knot you have been chasing for months that returns within days of any treatment
- Jaw, temple or behind-the-eye pain with no dental explanation
- Leg or arm symptoms that were investigated as nerve problems and came back clear
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it have to hurt to work?
You will feel the point, and you will often recognise the referred sensation. But work that makes you brace is working against itself. Sustained and specific beats aggressive.
Why do my knots keep coming back?
Usually because the muscle is compensating for something else — restricted joint mechanics, a loading pattern, an old injury. Releasing the point without addressing why it formed produces relief that lasts days.
Is this the same as dry needling?
No. Dry needling targets similar tissue with a needle and is outside a massage therapist’s scope in California. This is manual pressure only.
Do I book it separately?
No. You book a session and the assessment determines how much of it applies.
Book a session at Fit Body Therapy in Los Altos and let’s find out where your pain is actually starting. Serving Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Sunnyvale.