Fibromyalgia-Treatment

Fibromyalgia can be Helped By Exercise and Massage

Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes chronic pain and is very limiting. People areseverely affected in their ability to perform home, work, and recreational activities. They can experience fluctuating pain that occurs without warning. Severity of symptoms varies person-to-person and month-to-month. As fibromyalgia affects everyone differently, treatment and treatment recommendations vary immensely.

The below study looked to identify treatments that positively affected outcomes on fibromyalgia patients. The review made rather recommendations after combining multiple studies for fibromyalgia. There is strong evidence to support aerobic exercise and cognitive behavioral therapies are positive outcome treatments for fibromyalgia.

Exercises therapy has been repeatedly shown to decrease intensity, frequency, and duration of symptoms. Exercise benefits many pain conditions. It is not alwaysknown why exercise helps improve people’s pain, but it consistently does help. There is something about the body engaging in both aerobic and anaerobic exercise that helps reset and stabilizeconditions within the body. Certain organ systems work better when exposed to consistent exercise. The muscular and nervous systems are two of those that respond to exercise.

Moderateevidence supported massage therapy as a treatment for fibromyalgia. Muscle strength training, acupuncture, and spa therapy also had positive benefits.

Fibromyalgia is a condition we are learning more about every year. At this time there are no great treatments that can cure fibromyalgia. However there are many things a person can do to help manage their pain and symptoms. Consistent exercise is an activity every patient with fibromyalgia should incorporate into their daily lives to manage their condition.

The research abstract is listed below. The following article discusses scar pain and its clinical importance. The abstract is below for your reading. More information on massage therapy for fibromyalgia can be found on the massage therapy and exercise videos pages.

Moreinformation on therapeutic treatments utilizing Physical Therapy or Chiropractic can be directed to Google+.

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics

Volume 32, Issue 1 , Pages 25-40, January 2009

Chiropractic Management of Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Michael Schneider, DC, PhD, Howard Vernon, DC,PhD, Gordon Ko, MD, Gordon Lawson, MSc, DC, Jerome Perera

Abstract

Objective

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is one of the most commonly diagnosed nonarticularsoft tissue conditions in all fields of musculoskeletal medicine, including chiropractic. The purpose of this study was to perform a comprehensive review of the literature for the most commonly used treatment procedures in chiropractic for FMS and to provide evidence ratings for these procedures. The emphasis of this literature review was on conservative and nonpharmaceuticaltherapies.

Methods

The Scientific Commission of the Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) was charged with developing literature syntheses, organized by anatomical region, to evaluate and report on the evidence base for chiropractic care. This article is the outcome of this charge. As partof the CCGPP process, preliminary drafts of these articles wereposted on the CCGPP Web site www.ccgpp.org (2006-8) to allow for an open process and the broadest possible mechanism for stakeholder input. Online comprehensive literature searches were performed of the following databases: Cochrane Database of SystematicReviews; National Guidelines Clearinghouse; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; Manual, Alternative, and Natural Therapy Index System; Index to Chiropractic Literature, CumulativeIndex to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; Allied and Complementary Medicine; and PubMed up to June 2006.

Results

Our search yielded the following results: 8 systematic reviews, 3 meta-analyses, 5 published guidelines, and 1 consensus document. Our direct search of the databases for additional randomized trials did not find any chiropractic randomized clinical trials that were not already included in one or more of the systematic reviews/guidelines. The review of the Manual, Alternative, and Natural Therapy Index System and Index to Chiropractic Literature databases yielded an additional 38 articles regarding various nonpharmacologictherapies such as chiropractic, acupuncture, nutritional/herbal supplements, massage, etc. Review of these articles resulted in the following recommendations regarding nonpharmaceuticaltreatments of FMS. Strong evidence supports aerobic exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy. Moderate evidence supports massage, muscle strength training, acupuncture, and spa therapy (balneotherapy). Limited evidence supports spinal manipulation, movement/body awareness, vitamins, herbs, and dietarymodification.

Conclusions

Several nonpharmacologictreatments and manual-type therapies have acceptable evidentiary support in the treatment of FMS. PubMed

© 2009 National Universityof Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.