Neuromuscular therapy is a style that works on trigger point. It's a little more specific than deep tissue. The trigger of the body can be mapped out with having trigger points or kind of hot spots. Hot spots would be where the individual that's getting your treatment might really feel a lot of pain or numbness, tingling, or burning at times. Those can be present even without the massage therapist even touching. If somebody has a physical problem or sometimes an emotional mental problem it can manifest in those trigger points. The job of the massage therapist is to go in there identify the trigger points and then by either using the thumb pressure, finger pressure, knuckles, elbows or knees work on releasing those trigger points. Often times when the trigger point's being addressed, the client will feel all those same physical responses. They might feel the burning or numbness. They might feel all sorts of different sensations even far away from the trigger point. That would be considered more neuromuscular. Often times a neuromuscular therapist will use T-bars which are commonly a little wooden device. There are different sizes and diameter. They will hold part of the device in the hand and kind of in the fist and then the other part of the T-bar will press away from that. It's just like another device that you can use so if you can get a lot of thumb pressure or finger pressure you can use a T-bar and really put quite a bit weight in there. Neuromuscular massage can be painful but a lot of it really depends on the skill of the massage therapist. A good massage therapist will not just go in real deep and real sudden. Instead they may do some lighter styles and really warm up the tissues and also make sure that the client is very comfortable. They might use some hot packs to help the tissues be prepared and they will go in and warm that area up with some different types of massage strokes. Then they it will start to sink in a little bit heavier with the deep tissue, always checking with the client, making sure that their discomfort level doesn't get too great at one time and then they will keep sinking a little heavier. Often times a really skilled massage therapist can do a lot of deep work and cause very little trauma to the client. Whereas an inexperienced therapist or somebody that's a little less sensitive may really just force their way into the deeper tissues, not really do any warm the area up or prepare the client that there is some heavier pressure coming. Often times that will cause a little bit more trauma, even emotional trauma, to the client and that's not what you are after. The trigger points are really acupuncture points or acupressure points. The TuiNa therapist will still be addressing those trigger points but will treat them not as trigger points but as acupuncture points sources or they might be ashi points. Those are points that are just tender. They can be throughout the body anywhere they don't have to be on the regular meridian or channel you know.
