PT can Help Fibromyalgia

Nearly 5 million people in the United States have fibromyalgia. This chronic condition causes widespread pain, fatigue, and cognitive issues. It can be difficult to manage and can severely impact quality of life. It usually shows up between the ages of 30 and 50, and 80% to 90% of the people affected are women. There is no cure, but the best treatment plans combine exercise, modalities, and education to help manage symptoms. Physical therapists are experts in all three, so they’re the perfect practitioner to help with fibromyalgia!

Your PT Can Give Exercises to Help Your Fibromyalgia

Physical therapists are well known as experts in exercise, so they’re an obvious choice when it comes to helping people with fibromyalgia. Currently, recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia include patient education and non-pharmacological interventions. So the right exercise routine can help with pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, depression, and more. A combination of strengthening, stretching, and aerobic exercise is the most effective. You and your PT will work together to find the right type and intensity of exercise to best manage your symptoms.

Modalities To Move Through Fibromyalgia

Exercise isn’t the only tool your PT has to help you with fibromyalgia though. Gentle manual therapy and massage have been shown to help reduce pain and muscle stiffness caused by fibromyalgia. Physical therapists also use modalities to reduce symptoms. For example, your physical therapist may use:

• Electrical Stimulation
• Laser
• Biofeedback
• Dry Needling

Education

Education is another important component in treating fibromyalgia. A physical therapist spends more time with their patients than most other practitioners. Therefore, they have the time to help you understand what’s going on, and what you can do about it. Research shows that people with more knowledge about their condition have better outcomes, more confidence, and cope better.

Physical therapists can help with pain management, strength, mobility, fatigue and function to help patients find relief from their symptoms and improve the quality of their lives. While we still don’t have a cure for fibromyalgia, people can move through it with the right help.

References

1. Therex effectiveness – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5632473/
2. PT for fibromyalgia – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31140398/
3. Exercises for fibro – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29185675/
4. Manual therapy for fibro – ​​https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32604939/
5. Effectiveness of exercise with fatigue, etc for fibro – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32721388/
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11028838/https://pubmd.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36051912/