She had her own health crisis in college. Determined to find some non-narcotic pain relief, she tried Thai massage. When she saw its effects, she went to study at a school affiliated with the Old Medicine Hospital in Thailand.
Then she went to Thailand, to study the culture. When she offers a demonstration, I accept with alacrity. Lying on a pillowy comforter, soothed by low light and Sanskrit music, I watch her use her own bodyโeven knees, elbows, and feetโto compress and release the tight muscles in mine.
At one point she uses a walker to support part of her weight and walks on me. In the Western sense, those blockages would correspond to areas of stored tension, tightness, loss of motion. Working on all this together, from both Eastern and Western perspectives, is what has made my practice so powerful and effective.
Those, she says, are trigger points. Meanwhile, fluids and toxins can build up around the encapsulations, interrupting their proper function and sending distress signals back to the brain. And that tightness in the neck, where taut muscle fibers containing trigger points had formed, referred pain to her head. Duncan hates to see people use painkillers or even the wrong exercises to get at their pain.
It's so much more effective than just rubbing over a muscle or just continuing to stretch. We are restoring the range of motion and reducing the pain. Once you release the compromised muscle fibers, then you can stretch. I was tensing too, trying to grasp this. In distress, all they can do is shout louder. BOX St. Louis, MO Skip to main content. Stay well mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally with our Wellness newsletter. Back to Search Results. Publications St.
