Whether you're walking or participating in an exercise class, these exercise tips can help prevent injury or pain: Exercise at the time of day that you feel best. For many people with fibromyalgia, this is between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. But your best time may be different. Stretch.
Your choices include mall walking, swimming, water aerobics, using a kickboard in a pool, yoga, tai chi, or biking. Start slow and increase the time and intensity as you can. Again, your goal is to work up to 30 minutes a day, 5 days of the week.
Relaxation. If you have fibromyalgia, it's important to regularly take time to relax or practise relaxation techniques. Stress can make your symptoms worse or cause them to flare up more often. It could also increase your chances of developing depression.
People with fibromyalgia should generally avoid activities that involve fast, sudden movements and high impact activities, such as running and jumping, although some people may progress to this level of activity.
According to Jones, overdoing it can lead to worsened fibromyalgia symptoms three to five days after exertion. Even worse, "You can end up having a flare," says Hoffman. "You may try to make up for lost time, but you don't need to train hard. Honor your body, and train for good health instead."
The symptoms of fibromyalgia are associated with physical inactivity such as excessive sitting. Physical inactivity itself produces increased oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, factors present in fibromyalgia. Therefore, increasing physical activity should benefit patients with fibromyalgia.
Stretching daily for 10-15mins is a good practice for managing pain. Dynamic stretching involves actively moving muscles to stretch them out and is most commonly done before exercise. This form of stretching prepares the body for exercise, reducing the risk of injury, allowing the blood to start flowing to muscles.
Sleep and fibromyalgia share a bidirectional relationship. Just as painful symptoms can prevent patients from getting enough rest, sleep deprivation can exacerbate the widespread feelings of pain and tenderness brought on by fibromyalgia. Sleep loss can also lower a person's pain threshold.
Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes pain in muscles and soft tissues all over the body. It is an ongoing (chronic) condition. It can affect your neck, shoulders, back, chest, hips, buttocks, arms, and legs. The pain may be worse in the morning and evening.
Poor sleep quality
Fibromyalgia can affect your sleep. You may often wake up tired, even when you have had plenty of sleep. This is because the condition can sometimes prevent you sleeping deeply enough to refresh you properly. You may hear this described as non-restorative sleep.
Physical and emotional stress are the most common triggers of fibromyalgia flares. Other triggers include lack of sleep, weather changes, and hormone imbalances.
Experts typically recommend any low-impact aerobic activity, such as walking, swimming, or cycling. Your doctor may advise you to work with a physical therapist on exercises specifically aimed at reducing pain and stiffness and improving function.
Walking can help control pain and fatigue. Start by walking as little as five minutes a day and add 30 seconds or a minute each day if you can. Work up to 30 minutes to an hour of walking, three to four times a week.
Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
Chronic, widespread pain throughout the body or at multiple sites. Pain is often felt in the arms, legs, head, chest, abdomen, back, and buttocks. People often describe it as aching, burning, or throbbing. Fatigue or an overwhelming feeling of being tired.
Medications can help reduce the pain of fibromyalgia and improve sleep. Common choices include: Pain relievers. Over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or naproxen sodium (Aleve, others) may be helpful.
Getting a good night's sleep is a critical part of managing daily pain and preventing flare-ups with fibromyalgia.
"Muscle soreness can be a deterrent to exercising, but it's temporary and the more you exercise, the less you should feel it. This is why staying active is so important. Usually, those who stay active aren't going to get sore as much."
Although exercise can improve the symptoms of fibromyalgia, the effects are not always immediate. “Exercise is really the best long-term treatment for the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia,” Jones says. “But it can take up to six months before you notice a change in your symptoms.”
Stop! Should I stay or should I go? “If you experience pain during your workout, attempting to push through it can result in a more serious injury,” says Patel. “If you feel pain, stop what you are doing and see if it goes away after a day or so.”
A major risk of leaving fibromyalgia untreated is that symptoms such as chronic pain, fatigue, headaches, and depression can become excruciatingly worse over time. Fibromyalgia also has a huge impact on mental health and anxiety and mood disorders can also worsen if you don't treat fibromyalgia.
Exercise Regularly
Regular, low-intensity exercise, such as walking or warm-water exercise, is one of the best treatments for fibromyalgia. It helps decrease pain and stiffness, reduce stress, and may increase your sense of control over fibromyalgia. You may also sleep better.
Previous studies have observed that fibromyalgia women display a reduced walking speed, which could be a consequence of decreases in stride length and cycle frequency, as well as bradykinesia (Auvinet et al., 2006; Heredia Jiménez et al., 2009).