Swedish Massage
This massage utilizes a variety of movements to relax the entire body, including long strokes, kneading, rolling, and circular movements. Swedish massage is widely known for reducing stress, increasing blood flow and detoxifying the body, all of which are beneficial to fibromyalgia sufferers.
Thankfully for sufferers, massage therapy can help manage the symptoms of fibromyalgia by relaxing the muscles, improving circulation, and softening joint pain and tenderness.
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.
Physical and emotional stress are the most common triggers of fibromyalgia flares. Other triggers include lack of sleep, weather changes, and hormone imbalances.
The main aims of physiotherapy in the treatment of fibromyalgia are to reduce your pain and stiffness using a combination of strategies. Other goals include the reduction of muscle spasms, increase energy levels, improve pain management and improve sleep patterns.
Biofeedback, deep breathing, meditation, self-hypnosis, or even just distracting yourself with a good book or some soothing music can help take your mind off the pain and make coping with a flare more manageable, say experts at the National Fibromyalgia Association.
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.
It helps regulate the immune system, clear blockages, eliminate metabolic waste and toxins from the body, as well as reduce excess fluid. Therefore, because the technique is so gentle, it's well tolerated by Fibromyalgia patients, who are often experiencing many trigger points throughout the body.
Hot stone massage can help reduce stress, help relieve the pain, decrease the feelings of anxiety and aid in general overall well being – all of which is great to ease the symptoms for people with fibromyalgia.
Acupuncture appears to modestly reduce many types of chronic pain, so it's not surprising that many people with fibromyalgia are interested in trying it. While the studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture for fibromyalgia symptoms are somewhat mixed, most suggest that it may have a beneficial role.
“Pushing through exhaustion can worsen fibromyalgia symptoms and leave you feeling more sluggish.” 2. Don't always put others first. It's natural to put kids' needs before your own.
After 12 weeks of tilting body vibrations, nearly 60% of patients improved in their overall stability while nearly two thirds (66.6%) improved on their anterior-posterior body stability. This vibration therapy tends to improve balance among fibromyalgia patients.
The drugs amitriptyline, duloxetine, milnacipran and pregabalin can relieve fibromyalgia pain in some people. They may cause side effects such as a dry mouth or nausea. Normal painkillers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen (paracetamol) aren't recommended for the treatment of fibromyalgia.
Currently the two drugs that are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the management of fibromyalgia are pregabalin and duloxetine. Newer data suggests that milnacipran, a dual norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibitor, may be promising for the treatment of fibromyalgia.
Other researchers believe fibromyalgia is caused by a lack of deep sleep. It is during stage 4 sleep that muscles recover from the prior day's activity, and the body refreshes itself. Sleep studies show that as people with fibromyalgia enter stage 4 sleep, they become more aroused and stay in a lighter form of sleep.
The FDA has approved three drugs specifically for treating fibromyalgia, including pregabalin (Lyrica), duloxetine (Cymbalta), and milnacipran (Savella).
The central nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves) transmits information all over your body through a network of specialised cells. Changes in the way this system works may explain why fibromyalgia results in constant feelings of, and extreme sensitivity to, pain.
Fibro Fog and Fatigue. Fibromyalgia goes beyond pain. It can also affect your thinking ability, a symptom called fibro fog, and your energy level, leaving you with extreme fatigue. Even though you feel these symptoms, they aren't visible, and there aren't any tests that can measure them.