About the “Big Red Books” by Drs. Travell & Simons: Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual

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PainSci notes

The “big red books” by Drs. Janet Travell and David Simons are a two-volume set of texts about so-called trigger points and myofascial pain syndrome. Early versions and editions were extremely influential in world of massage and physical therapy starting in the 1980s and continuing well into the 21st Century. Arguably the are the most influential texts in that field.

The introductory chapters present a good overview of the subject, if somewhat technical and now quite dated. The books are brilliantly illustrated, for what it’s worth, and those drawings will probably influence the field for decades to come, the compelling iconography of a clinical paradigm.

Although a landmark work, more recent information has been published in Muscle Pain: Understanding its nature, diagnosis and treatment by Siegfried Mense and David Simons, and there are many reasonable questions and doubts about almost everything Travell and Simons thought and wrote about this topic “back in the day.”

~ Paul Ingraham, PainSci Publisher

Related Content

1. “Myofascial pain: a bogus construct,” a chapter in the book Myofascial pain, by John L Quintner and Milton L Cohen.
2. “An expansion of Simons' integrated hypothesis of trigger point formation,” Gerwin et al, Curr Pain Headache Rep, 2004.
3. Mini-bio for "Dr. David Simons" on PainScience.com.
4. Mini-bio for "Dr. Janet Travell" on PainScience.com.
5. The trigger point therapy workbook: your self-treatment guide for pain relief (book), by Clair Davies and Amber Davies.
6. Muscle pain: understanding its nature, diagnosis and treatment (book), by Siegfried Mense, David G Simons, and IJ Russell. Amazon.com ❐

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5. The Complete Guide to Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain
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10. The Respiration Connection
11. A Cranky Review of Dr. John Sarno’s Books & Ideas
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14. Trigger Point Doubts
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