Trigger point therapy

Trigger point therapy

Trigger point therapy is a bodywork technique that involves the application of pressure to tender muscle tissue in order to relieve pain and dysfunction in other parts of the body. It may also be called myofascial (myo meaning muscle, fascial meaning connective tissue) trigger point therapy.

Trigger point therapy is sometimes regarded as one of a group of treatment aproaches called neuromuscular therapy or NMT. Myotherapy, developed by Bonnie Prudden, is a related type of trigger point therapy.

Origins

Trigger point therapy was developed by Dr. Janet Travell in the United States in the 1940s; she is credited with having first used the phrase “trigger point” in print in 1942. Through her work and events in her personal life, Travell advanced the theory that pain experienced in one part of the body is actually caused by an injury or dysfunction in another part of the body.

Triphala

Amalaki (Embelica officinalis)

Triphala, an ancient herbal blend, is one of the most commonly used herbal remedies in the Ayurvedic system of healing. Ayurvedic medicine originated in ancient India, has developed over thousands of years, and is one of the oldest systems of healing.

Thus triphala is one of the longest-used herbal remedies in the world. Triphala, meaning “three fruits,” is made from the fruits of three trees that grow throughout India and the Middle East, including amalaki fruit (Embelica officinalis), bibhitaki fruit (Terminalia belerica), and haritaki fruit (Terminalia chebula).

In preparing triphala, these fruits are dried, ground into powder, and then blended together according to the precise directions of Ayrurvedic tradition. Amalaki fruit, also called amla or Indian gooseberry, is renowned as one of the best rejuvenating herbs in Ayurvedic medicine.

Thunder god vine

Thunder god vine

Thunder god vine (Tripterygium wilfordii) is the English translation of the Chinese name for the perennial plant lei gong teng. The plant grows in the mountains of China, as well as Taiwan and Myanmar (formerly Burma).

It is a deciduous climbing vine that sheds its leaves, and produces white flowers and red fruit with three “wings.” The plant’s leaves, flowers, and outer skin of the root are poisonous.

In fact, honey taken from the plant’s pollen is also poisonous. The root pulp is the non-poisonous part, which is used medicinally. There is a risk of poisoning if the herb is not extracted properly.

Thyme

Thyme

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), known as garden thyme, and T. serpyllum, known as creeping thyme, mother of thyme, wild thyme, and mountain thyme, are two similarly beneficial evergreen shrubs of the Lamiaceae or mint family.

The aromatic thyme is a perennial native of southern Europe and the western Mediterranean. Thyme is extensively cultivated, both commercially and in home gardens, as a culinary and medicinal herb. There are hundreds of species of thyme.

Garden thyme grows from a woody, fibrous root to produce thin, erect, stems up to 15 in (38 cm) high. It is most commonly cultivated for its culinary uses. Wild thyme is found growing on heaths, in sheep pastures, and mountainous areas in temperate regions.

Tibetan medicine

Tibetan Medecine - chakras and energy channels

Tibetan medicine differs from allopathic medicine in that it has no concept of illness as such, but rather the concept is of disharmony of the organism. Accordingly, this system of medicine, like many alternative therapies, seeks to achieve a harmony of the self.

Medicine is one of five branches of Tibetan science, and is known to the Tibetans as gSoba Rig-pa—the science of healing.

The Tibetan pharmacopoeia utilizes many different elements in the treatment of disease, such as trees, rocks, resins, soil, precious metals, sap, and so on, but like Chinese medicine, to which it is related, it mainly relies on herbs for treatment.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious and potentially fatal disease that can affect almost any part of the body but manifests mainly as an infection of the lungs. It is caused by a bacterial microorganism, the tubercle bacillus or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB infection can either be acute and short-lived or chronic and long-term.

Although TB can be prevented, treated, and cured with proper treatment and medications, scientists have never been able to eliminate it entirely. The organism that causes tuberculosis, popularly known as consumption, was discovered in 1882.

Because antibiotics were unknown, the only means of controlling the spread of infection was to isolate patients in private sanatoria or hospitals limited to patients with TB—a practice that continues to this day in many countries. TB spread very quickly and was a leading cause of death in Europe.

Turmeric

Turmeric

Turmeric is a member of the Curcuma botanical group, which is part of the ginger family of herbs, the Zingiberaceae. Its botanical name is Curcuma longa.

Turmeric is widely grown both as a kitchen spice and for its medicinal uses. Two closely related plants, Curcuma petolata and Curcuma roscoeana, are natives of Cambodia and are grown for their decorative foliage and blossoms.

All curcumas are perennial plants native to southern Asia. They grow in warm, humid climates and thrive only in temperatures above 60°F (29.8°C). India, Sri Lanka, the East Indies, Fiji, and Queensland (Australia) all have climates that are conducive to growing turmeric.