The easy way to release trigger points in your calf muscles

Trigger point therapy vs trigger point release

Trigger point therapy and trigger point release are practically the same thing so the terms get used interchangeably

"Myofascial" trigger points

The official name for these trigger points is myofascial trigger points.

Your best self trigger point therapy

By far the simplest self trigger point therapy is the use of a vibration massager. As shown in the diagram below, this is where the head of a vibration massager is placed over the trigger point allowing the vibrations to penetrate deeply, having a host of highly beneficial effects that basically “dissolve” the trigger points. There are huge advantages in using the vibrations to penetrate rather than the typical way of pressing in with your thumb, a ball or a roller.

Using vibration trigger point therapy on your calf muscles

In this section we'll show you:

• The muscles you will be treating
• How to find the trigger points
• How to Apply the therapy to your calf muscle trigger points

Alternatively you can watch our video below

Finding the trigger points

The charts tell us where you are likely to find your trigger points, but it is very easy to examine and check.

Our video demonstration

some hints and advice to help you get the best possible results

So, that’s the simple way of treating release trigger points in your calf. I think you’ll agree that it’s a lot easier and nicer than using painful pressure or getting into some awkward position with a ball or roller. What I’d like to do now is quickly go over a few things help you stay safe and get the best possible results. Keep in mind though that I can only give specific advice to my own patients, so consider this as general information only.

Get some professional advice

One important thing with trigger points is that they are often part of a more complex problem, and there are often things you can do to help other than trigger point therapy. You’ll do most of the work yourself, but I recommend you do get some professional advice, plus it’s always good to make sure that it actually is trigger points and it’s safe to do trigger point therapy. In the case of calf muscles that’s especially important because if you have blood clots in your veins they can dislodge and end up in your lungs killing you.

Do you want great long term results, or just temporary relief?

The next thing we’ll go over is whether you want great long term results, or just a bit of temporary relief. I mentioned before that if you use a pressure technique the problem will almost always come back. It’s the same if you get needles or laser. The main issue is that trigger point therapies and releases initially just quieten the trigger points down a bit so they’re not hurting, which means they’re still there and eventually start hurting again. To get rid of trigger points completely scientific trials show that after the pain goes you need to keep treating them, maybe even be 50 or 100 times. We discuss this in detail in our artice Why do trigger points keep coming back

Avoid percussion massagers (massage guns) and their techniques

The next thing you need to do is to avoid percussion massagers or massage guns, and the techniques their advocates show you. I’ll share with you why. What percussion massagers or massage gun makers have done is modify vibration massagers to make a marketing gimmick that’s a lot less effective and a lot more dangerous. The easiest way to explain it is to use the analogy of a construction compactor vs a jackhammer.

Reduced effectiveness and reduced penetration

Remember it’s the vibrations that do the work. Jack hammers don’t vibrate the ground anywhere near as much as a compactor so percussion massagers are far less effective. The percussion marketers claim that driving their heads in like jackhammers gives better penetration, but if you look at those two machines the jackhammer head goes in a bit, while the vibrations from the compactor are probably still doing their work a meter or two down.

The "percussion massage" technique

So that’s the machines themselves. I also said the percussion massage technique. Vibration massagers are power tools, and just like most power tools they work best if you just let them do their job. You just sit the machine on and let the vibrations penetrate. If you try and move it around like a convention massage you’re not letting the vibrations soak in, so it will be a lot less effective. However, the marketing gimmick of percussion massagers is that they combine conventional massage with vibrations so that’s exactly what they tell you to do.

Percussion massagers are very poor at delivering therapeutic vibrations anyway so it probably doesn’t matter with them, but I don’t want to see you following their recommendations with a decent vibration massager.

How to get a decent massager

So, how do you find a decent massager. This article discusses what to look for, but they’re not that common though. Most of the massagers on the market are either ineffective consumer consumers, massage guns or both. That’s why a while back to get something decent for our patients we built our own, which are the two machines I’ve used here and in the video.