Pain Management

How Physical Therapy Can Help with Fibromyalgia

A physical therapist can guide people with fibromyalgia on how to relieve symptoms of pain and stiffness in daily life. These health care professionals train people with fibromyalgia on how to make their body and muscles strong.

Physical therapy for fibromyalgia focuses on the treatment of healing and prevention of injuries or disabilities. Regular physical therapy may help you to recover from the pain that you are going through due to fibromyalgia.

Did You Know?

  • Physical therapists use hydrotherapy with moist heat or cold packs works by stimulating your body’s healing force.
  • It provides short -term relief from fibromyalgia pain.

Physical Therapy for Fibromyalgia

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Physical therapy for fibromyalgia works with all types of patients and among all age groups. It helps in improving stability, relieves pain, or prevents permanent physical disabilities. If you have fibromyalgia(1), the therapist will help you with specific stretching to meet your individual needs.

Why Should You Consider Physiotherapy for Fibromyalgia?

Physiotherapy is a technique designed to help people recover from the physical side effects of injury and illness. It decreases pain and physical mobility in a wide range of patients. Physiotherapists use several different exercises, muscles stimulation to help and to improve the patient’s overall physical health.

Mostly people avoid exercises to prevent experiencing a flare-up of their fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia physical therapist is trained to teach patients how to interpret the signal of painfully and how to decrease the symptoms of the condition through an exercise based program that is completely customized per patient. By working with a professional you will experience many pain-free tomorrows.

[Read: Natural Remedies for Fibromyalgia]

Types of Physical therapies

1. Low Impact Aerobic Conditioning (Water Aerobics)

Low impact aerobics is a choreographed aerobic and workout. It helps to burn calories and improves the flexibility of the body. Water aerobics include strength training exercise, cool down and warm up that helps fibromyalgia patients to gain strength.

2. Pain Relief Exercise

It involves the bending and stretching of the body to give you relief from pain.

3. TENS

The full form of TENS is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. It is a method used for chronic pain sufferers and fibromyalgia patients, which involves electrical stimulation to provide a degree of symptomatic pain relief by exciting sensory nerves.

4. Stretching and Strengthening Exercise

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It involves stretching of back and hips to provide flexibility in your body.

5. Ultrasound

It is a type of imaging that uses high-frequency sound waves to look at organs and structures inside the body.

6. Deep Tissue Massage

It is a technique used to treat musculoskeletal issues such as strains and sports injuries and reduces tension in muscles and tissues. In this particular therapy, slow massage strokes are given to the muscle tissues deep within as well as on the fascia or instead on the connective tissue.

[Read: Massage to Treat Fibromyalgia]

Benefits of Physical Therapy for Fibromyalgia

The advantage of physical therapy for fibromyalgia(2) is numerous. It is a specific treatment for fibromyalgia patients, and here the therapists play an important role. Below are the benefits

1. Alleviates Pain

Physical therapy techniques and therapeutic exercises can help to mobilize your joints and restore muscle function, reduce aches, and eliminates pain together.

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Improves mobility and maintain balance: Physical therapy can restore mobility and can even enhance coordination and balance in patients who are at high risk of injuries.

2. Avoid Dependence in Pain Medication

It reduces the dependence on medication; physical therapy is often a safe alternative choice to address the pain issues compared to surgery.

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Manages heart and lung disease: It is the best recovery process for cardiac and lung rehabilitation after a heart attack.

3. Avoidance of Surgery

It can help to heal the injured tissue and facilitate mobility on its own, thus eliminates the need for an operation.

4. Prevent Injuries

It strengthens weak muscles and joints, thus prevents future injuries in that particular area.

5. Helps to Recover from Stroke

Physical therapy can help to improve body posture, balance and also helps the patient to be more independent. It reduces the burden of the activities of daily living.

6. Controls Diabetes and Vascular Conditions

Physical therapy helps you to manage your sugar level in the blood through exercise. It also accumulates the circulation of blood and improves the cardiovascular condition of your body.

Physical therapy is one of the best technique to get rid away from symptoms of fibromyalgia. It builds your stamina and concentration level of your body. It stimulates the muscles and joints of your body. Physical therapy relaxes your muscles and gives you relief from pain, stress, anxiety, and hypertension.

So if you see any of the symptoms of fibromyalgia, then opt for physical therapy. Consult a good physiotherapist and start your physical therapy as soon as you can to live a healthy life.

[Read: Exercises for Fibromyalgia]


FAQs

1. How Many Types of Physiotherapy Are There?

There are six types of physiotherapy, namely

  • Orthopedic physiotherapy
  • Neurological physiotherapy
  • Geriatric physiotherapy
  • Vestibular Rehabilitation.

2. What Role Is Played by the Physical Therapist in the Treatment?

When you opt for a natural treatment for fibromyalgia, it teaches you relaxation technique that will help you in achieving a good night’s sleep and reduces the fear of pain.

3. Is Physical Therapy for Fibromyalgia Costly?

Concerning the benefits of physical therapy, the cost is not that much. Moreover, physical therapy also helps in reducing healthcare costs because, with physical therapy, we can avoid surgery, which, in return, helps us to avoid healthcare costs.