Author Archives: Paul Ingraham

Confusing the benefits of salty and non-salty baths

By Paul Ingraham | Published: September 3, 2010
I’m on holiday for a couple weeks at the moment, so updates will be slow for a couple weeks. But of course I never truly stop working entirely … A recent email exchange with a reader inspired this small piece, which is really more about critical thinking and cognitive distortion than Epsom salts. In this case, [...]
Posted in contrast hydrotherapy, debunkery, epsom, hydrotherapy, pain, placebo, self-treatment | Leave a comment

“I’ve tried to interpret the findings of the best physiologists and translate them into sound practices. That’s made me a radical.”

By Paul Ingraham | Published: August 26, 2010
David Moorcroft was about as flexible as a 2×4, but it didn’t keep him from winning a lot of races. Reader Jennifer M. found this great passage from an excellent 1983 Sports Illustrated article about David Moorcroft, a British middle and long distance runner and 5,000 metres world record holder. It’s a splendid addition to my stretching [...]
Posted in debunkery, evidence-based medicine, self-treatment, strain, stretching | Leave a comment

Dr. Tim Taylor has contributed a new chapter to my book, Save Yourself from Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome!

By Paul Ingraham | Published: August 20, 2010
Dr. Tim Taylor, a chronic pain specialist from Virginia, has contributed an important new chapter to my book about muscle pain, Save Yourself from Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome! This is SaveYourself.ca’s first major collaboration, and a really good one to start with — it’s fantastic to have expert assistance in creating such valuable information for [...]
Posted in medical factors, medications, muscle physiology, nutrition, perpetuating factors, treatment, trigger points | Leave a comment

And again! More muscle knot squishing science, different experiment, same results

By Paul Ingraham | Published: July 14, 2010
Odd! Just a couple days after posting about a not-yet-published study of trigger point squishing — quite a rare subject for research — I came across (via @massagetherapy) an almost identical study that is published. They also reported news that makes massage therapists smile: …using ischemic compression on shoulder trigger points may reduce the symptoms of [...]
Posted in evidence-based medicine, massage, massage therapy, massage tools, placebo, research, science, self-massage, self-treatment, therapy, treatment, trigger points | Leave a comment

(Newer than new) evidence that squishing trigger points works

By Paul Ingraham | Published: July 8, 2010
An upcoming issue of Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies will include a new study of trigger point squishing. I was lucky to get a look at a final draft, thanks to connections at The Pressure Positive Company, the massage tool manufacturer that supplied the tools. This experiment has the simple elegance of a good science-fair [...]
Posted in massage, massage therapy, massage tools, research, self-massage, self-treatment, therapy, treatment, trigger points | Leave a comment

Jedi mind trick turns a muscle relaxant drug into a stimulant

By Paul Ingraham | Published: July 8, 2010
How much does the effect of a medication depend on what you are told about it? Quite a bit, apparently! This strange and fascinating study in Psychosomatic Medicine showed that a muscle relaxant actually increases tension when the patient is told (lied to) that it is actually a stimulant. The false information is so potent [...]
Posted in medications, research | Leave a comment

Wishful thinking does not get much more wishful than this

By Paul Ingraham | Published: July 6, 2010
“Basically they are the Amway for people who think a metal tube full of ‘granulated minerals and crystals’ can fix your bad back, make crappy wine taste better, reduce the acidity of lemons, energize your food, etc. I went to a ‘wanding party’ in Westchester, and it was very weird indeed.” Weird multi-level marketing company sells [...]
Posted in low back pain, quackery, self-treatment | Leave a comment

A trigger point is almost mistaken for a tumor

By Paul Ingraham | Published: June 25, 2010
Trigger points (muscle knots) can causes surprisingly severe symptoms. A physician sent me her own interesting story: I narrowly escaped a breast biopsy because of trigger points in the pectoralis major. I’d had bad chest pain for a month. I was on the table, permit signed, draped. The doctor wasn’t sure: she said she wanted another [...]
Posted in diagnosis, trigger points | Leave a comment

WARNING! Traumeel contains .00000000000000001% pure death!

By Paul Ingraham | Published: June 22, 2010
Alexa Ray Joel, somehow still with us after trying to kill herself with an unbelievably teensy dosage of arnica and other herbs. I could not make this up. Truth really is stranger than fiction — and funnier, too! Back in December, Billy Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray tried to kill herself, probably because she heard “Piano Man” one too [...]
Posted in debunkery, traumeel | Leave a comment

The three most common words in massage therapy are pointless

By Paul Ingraham | Published: June 15, 2010
The pointless words are: “You’re really tight!” A simple science experiment published in Journal of Pain clearly shows (finally!) that muscle hardness correlates (very!) badly with muscle sensitivity. Read the article.
Posted in debunkery, massage, massage therapy | Leave a comment