Muscular load to the therapist's shoulder during three alternative techniques for trigger point therapy.

Aim: To compare the muscular load (level of muscle activity) to the shoulder during alternative approaches to trigger point therapy (TPT).

Method: Massage therapy students (n=7) applied a predetermined level of force to an artificial contact surface. Changes in five pairs of superficial shoulder muscles (indicated by surface electromyography) were recorded while the student performed the single-arm technique (SAT), the double-arm technique (DAT) and the treatment-tool technique (TTT) using TriggerMate, a new treatment tool.

Results: For the contact arm, muscle activity was significantly decreased using the TTT compared to the SAT (p<0.05) but was not significantly different between the TTT and DAT. For the non-contact arm, none of the test techniques led to significant differences in muscle activity.

Conclusions: While there is evidence that the TTT decreases the muscular load to the shoulder of the contact arm, there is no indication of where this load is redistributed.