The End of an Era
A brief history of the Travell and Simons' Trigger Point Manuals
In 2018, the publishing company, Wolters Kluwer, of the Travell & Simons medical textbooks, "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, The Trigger Point Manual," informed Dr. Travell's two daughters, Janet Pinci and Virginia Street, that their mother's books were scheduled to be "out-of-print" on August 20th, 2018. The publisher kindly offered to send the remaining books to the two daughters, which they have done.
Now that these first and second editions will be forever out-of-print it would be a good idea to replace your worn, dog-eared copies while you can. New and used copies are available on Amazon, Ebay, online bookstores and brick and mortar bookshops and the content is available in ebook format but the original, beloved “red bibles” no longer in circulation are irreplaceable.
It’s important to mention that the unsung hero of these two editions is the medical illustrator, Barbara Cummings. Her clear, precise and consistent line illustrations were critical to the book’s success and are an integral part of the information contained in these volumes. I wonder if she realized what she was getting into when she took on this project! Cummings created hundreds of illustrations, working from photographs, under the supervision of Travell and Simons. Her artwork gives the textbooks a fresh, timeless quality that is difficult to match.
Any serious health professional should own copies of the First Edition, Volumes 1 and 2; the Second Edition Volume 1, and the new Third Edition. The First Edition, Volumes 1 and 2, contain Travell & Simon’s original, complete body of work from 1974-1992. The Second Edition, Volume 1, Upper Half of Body, which Travell worked on from 1992 up until her death in 1997, represents Simon’s continuation of Travell’s work, his own new discoveries and advancement in the science behind myofascial pain and dysfunction. Simons completed the Second Edition, with the assistance of his wife Lois, and it was published in 1999. (A Second Edition of Volume 2, Lower Half of Body was never published.) Now the Third Edition, published nearly 20 year later, brings us up to date on the past two decades of scientific research and advancements in medicine. Travell and Simons would no doubt be proud to see the exponential growth and acceptance of their pioneering work and the coming together of science and medicine.
In the summer of 1997, my Grandma “Bobby” was in her final days, and my mother, Virginia, called Dave Simons in California to let him know it was time to say goodbye by phone to his dear friend. He and his wife flew on the next plane out to her home in Massachusetts. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with Dr. Simons and, although his heart was broken to see “Bobby” fading away, he was exuberant about his latest research on trigger points and determined to continue on with the work. I have many fond memories of my grandmother tirelessly working, writing and editing her books at our summer home, Merryfield Farm. I remember talking with her about the problem of how to pass on knowledge from one person to the next, from one generation to the next. I would say this was her life’s mission. She wrote, she taught, she lectured, she treated patients, she studied. I think she nailed it.
A Brief Chronology of the Trigger Point Manuals
1974; Dr. Travell and Dr. Simons first discussed the idea of collaborating on publishing a book.
1983; "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual," Volume 1, The Upper Extremities by Janet G. Travell, M.D. and David G. Simons, M.D., Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. (Volume 1 was discontinued in 1998).
1992; "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual," Volume 2, The Lower Extremities by Janet G. Travell, M.D. and David G. Simons, M.D., Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.
August 1, 1997; Dr. Travell passes away.
1999; "Travell and Simons's Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual," Volume 1, Second Edition, Upper Half of Body by David G. Simons, M.D., Janet G. Travell, M.D., and Lois S. Simons, P.T., Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.
(A Volume 2, Second Edition, Lower Half of the Body was never completed or published.)
April 5, 2010; Dr. Dave Simons passes away.
August 20, 2018; "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual," Volume 2, The Lower Extremities, and "Travell and Simons's Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Point Manual," Volume 1, Second Edition, Upper Half of Body, are discontinued.
August 21, 2018; “Travell, Simons & Simons' Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual,” Third Edition, by Joseph Donnelly PT DHS, is released.