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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Not quite massage, not quite acupressure - but it works!, 2 Mar 1997
By A Customer
Bonnie Prudden has written a detailed "how-to" for the control and removal of muscle spasm pain. She states in one chapter, "Acute pain rarely allows us to be stupid about our danger. Chronic pain doesn't either, but it takes longer to get its message across." She describes how old injuries, occupational demands, emotional stresses, and poor postural habits become locked into the body's memory to produce "trigger points" for pain years later. Example: she worked on some long-standing pain in cardiologist's lower back, and commented that his back was more like a violinist's than a doctor's. His reply: "Oh, but I was a violinist before I became a doctor."
The heart of this book is 200 pages of well-described and clearly illustrated technique. "Quick fix" is localized pressure on trigger points for short-term relief of muscle spasms. "Permanent fix" is a determined and more time-consuming effort to find and relieve both primary and secondary trigger points. Anyone who can read can follow the instructions and illustrations, and can give much-needed relief to a friend or loved one in pain.
Bonnie Prudden's technique, called "Myotherapy," has a few flaws. It requires some common sense; pressure point massage could cause real damage to a person with an injury rather than a chronic muscle spasm. Prudden writes as an intelligent layperson rather than a scientist or a physician, and has given totally anecdotal evidence rather than controlled studies. And finally, the technique is accessible to the general public, with no opportunity for anyone to build a profitable enterprise around it - so there is no incentive for anyone to popularize it.
However, if you have a stiff neck or back - you're sure you don't have a serious injury - and you have a friend who can read and follow directions - try this! The technique is surprisingly effective and long-lasting, and the price of the book can save you an expensive round of medical visits and therapies. Recommended.
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