Tl;dw: When massaging a tender point hurting locally, focus on imagery; when a trigger point referring pain, focus on breathing. Chimes added to let you know when to pay attention to slide changes beforehand. Subtitles available on youtube.com/watch?v=q0T02SejkUI. Please forgive if these are annoying (they were inserted to facilitate listening with eyes closed), as well as the few small editing mistakes here and there (eg: 7:56). Done is better than perfect! Everything in between let's just chalk up to experience : ) This is the accompanying video explaining my master's thesis on the psychology behind treating myofascial trigger point pain with massage therapy (spmx.ca/trp). A brief introduction contextualizing Canadian approaches to clinical massage therapy is followed by an introduction into my own questions about referred muscular pain. The trail then follows this elusive pain through neurology, imagery, and mind-reading technology (chimes mean images incoming): 0:02:42 Study background (description: 44:41, treatment: 46:09) 0:04:35 Pain modulation 0:08:12 Explaining referred pain 0:09:45 Gate control theory 0:13:22 Comparing Aα, Aβ, Aδ & C sensory nerves 0:15:11 Pain timeline in the context of gate control 0:17:32 Descending modulation: introducing neuromatrix theory 0:19:40 Emotional, sensory, & reflexive cerebral pain paths 0:24:49 TrP pathophysiology 0:29:54 TrPs v. acupuncture points/muscle “knots”/healthy muscle 0:32:56 Treating TrPs via massage (& ice: 33:44) 0:34:56 Visual perception neuroanatomy (& retinotopic maps 36:38) 0:39:22 Imagery neuroanatomy (mind-reading: 40:37, dream-decoding: 42:09) 0:48:18 Main results (referred v. local pain results: 49:28, key findings: 54:46) 0:50:41 Ascending modulation synthesis (referral, gate control, mx. & ice) 0:52:46 Building a pain/imagery cerebral activity map 0:57:14 A neurological trigger point pain model (P v. Tx.) 1:00:00 Study limitations, criticism & future development 1:04:02 My new TrP Tx: youtu.be/gRiDDTTG_hE Bonus: 0:04:14 TrP denial: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25477053 (& 25:13, 29:08) 0:07:57 Humans are adorable 0:41:58 Mind-reading: youtu.be/nsjDnYxJ0bo (Jack Gallant, 2011) 0:43:56 Dream-watching: youtu.be/inaH_i_TjV4 (Kamitani, 2013) 1:03:07 Headache charts: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17161538 Final thoughts: 1. I'm shocked that no one knows/cares that we can read minds. 2. I'm a little less shocked but still surprised that we don't really know how Tylenol works. 3. “Once a thing exists, the rest is just a question of resolution.” 4. How cool would it be if we could think (some of) our pain away! 5. I'm satisfied (somewhat) understanding how TrPs work. 6. If I'm wrong, please pull a Bucky (brainpickings.org/2014/03/05/buckminster-fuller-education-automation-1962 & CtrlF+“I have taken”) and re-publish the good bits from this video with your corrections added. Do it for the kids.