Fibromyalgia Pain Relief Therapy

Are you seeking a pain relief therapy for fibromyalgia?

It is estimated that as many as 10 million Americans may suffer from fibromyalgia.  There is no one single test or screening that is used to identify this syndrome.  Also, a person can have other associated conditions at the same time, which can further complicate the diagnosis. 

But one universal symptom of fibromyalgia is pain.  Those diagnosed with fibromyalgia (also called fibromyalgia syndrome or FMS) are often left seeking an effective treatment for the widespread stiffness, pain, and tenderness that is present with this condition. In addition to the overall body discomfort, specific localized areas of pain and hypersensitivity, known as tender points, have been used to help diagnose fibromyalgia.  Generally, when eleven or more of the eighteen points are present, fibromyalgia is indicated. 

The underlying cause(s) of fibromyalgia is not known at this time.  But PUSH Therapy has been used successfully as a fibromyalgia pain relief therapy.

Why PUSH Therapy as a fibromyalgia pain relief solution? 

At Foster Muscle Therapy, treatment and education are combined to create individualized programs for each client.  Pain, whether from fibromyalgia or some other source, is usually what drives people to take action.  But chronic muscle tension, and its elimination, is the focus of the PUSH therapy sessions.  Why?  

Muscles that are chronically tight restrict blood flow, reducing the availability of oxygen and inhibiting the removal of waste products.  This can result in pain and/or increased sensitivity to touch (a symptom of FMS).  Muscles contract whenever they are stimulated. That includes touch and applied pressure.  If the muscles are already tight and oxygen-deprived and they attempt to contract further, the result can be experienced as pain or discomfort.  

A longer, less-restricted muscle will still contract when stimulated.  

But because the baseline resting muscle length is healthier, the tissue is not pushed to its limits where pain is felt.  Physical treatment to reduce the chronic muscle tension then becomes an effective pain relief therapy for fibromyalgia.

The educational component of the program helps clients see how they (usually unknowingly) have created a pattern of chronic muscle tension.  Helping clients understand how to perform all the daily tasks they need or want to do without rebuilding that tension is key to maintaining the positive changes achieved through treatment.  The idea is to prevent the recurrence of the muscle tension so that not as much treatment is needed to maintain a more pain-free life.  In that sense PUSH therapy is not so much a fibromyalgia pain relief therapy as a pain prevention therapy.

How long did it take before you had a diagnosis for your FMS?  Have you been frustrated with the lack of treatment options?  I'd love to hear your story.

If you would like to investigate PUSH Therapy further as a potential fibromyalgia pain relief therapy, please call (970) 590-2856. 

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Posted in Fibromyalgia, Pain Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Rodney Dangerfield and your muscles – They don’t get no respect!

Rodney Dangerfield.  He didn’t get no respect.  You know what else don’t get no respect?  Your muscles.  Try this little test if you think it ain’t so:

When you need a heart doctor,  you see …..   a cardiologist

When you need an eye doctor,  you see ….. an ophthalmologist

When you need a skin doctor,  you see …..   a dermatologist

When you need a doctor for your muscles, you see ……???

Just about every other body part has its own doctor, but there isn’t a muscle doctor specialistMuscles are an afterthought, at best.  Since there is no doctor who specializes in the study and treatment of muscles, it is easy to overlook them as either the source of your pain, or at least a major contributing factor.

"Muscle is an orphan organ.  No medical specialty claims it.  As a consequence, no medical specialty is concerned with promoting funded research into the muscular causes of pain."

 David G. Simons, M.D.

Maybe someone who comes the closest to being a muscle doctor specialist is the late Dr. Janet Travell.  Dr. Travell was the White House physician during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.  But before that, early in her medical career, she was working simultaneously on pulmonary (lungs), cardiology (heart), and general medical services.  Even if the patient had been admitted with a life-threatening condition, she noted that the most common daily complaint was of pain.  For example, three different patients, admitted with three different diagnoses might all complain of shoulder pain that was keeping them from sleeping on that side.

The resident doctor on the pulmonary service attributed the pain to some reflex from the lungs.

The resident doctor on the cardiology service explained the pain as reflex from the heart.

The resident doctor on the general medical service might encounter a secretary who spent her days typing and pulling heavy file drawers.  Her shoulder pain could be chalked up as ‘psychosomatic.’

In each case, there was no muscle doctor to suggest that all three patients might be suffering from muscle pain that was not related to their original diagnosis.

"In none of these patients did the doctors find objective evidence of disease to account for the patient’s pain, but the skeletal muscles had not been examined."

 Preface to Travell and Simons’ Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, The Trigger Point Manual Vol.1

The PUSH Therapy program focuses on muscles and other soft tissue (tendons, ligaments, connective tissue).  From my own experience dealing with chronic pain and from working with hundreds of clients at Foster Muscle Therapy, I have come to firmly believe that muscles, and the havoc that unhealthy muscles can cause, are too often overlooked.  Chronic muscle tension can play a part in ailments as varied as slipped discs, sciatica, plantar fasciitis and bursitis.  I have seen clients with diagnoses of Restless Legs Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis all improve when they were treated appropriately for their persistently tight muscles.

There may not be a muscle doctor, but you can show your muscles some respect.

If you have been struggling with finding lasting pain relief, it might be because your muscles have not been properly treated.  Call (970) 590-2856 to get started on your pain-free life. 


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Posted in Muscle doctor, muscle health | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Exercise pain: Don’t let it Ruin your New Year’s Resolution

Exercise pain can be minimized. Foster Muscle Therapy | Maria Foster | Greeley Colorado

Don't let pain stop your exercise program!

Are you already struggling with your New Year’s resolution to ‘get in shape’ this year?  Perhaps you started up an exercise program after the first of the year, determined to lose weight, get toned and feel better.  Maybe your doctor had been encouraging you to exercise.

Then pain showed up. 

Not the soreness or discomfort that comes from putting your body through a new routine, but a shoulder that 'zinged' you when you tried to slip your arm into your jacket sleeve or bursitis knee pain that kept you up all night.

Most people see this type of progression:

First you EXERCISE

So you can LOSE WEIGHT

And then you FEEL BETTER

What if exercise pain stops your best intentions?

But if your body isn’t capable of the exercise because of an underlying problem or you are unwittingly using poor body mechanics, the cycle can look like this.

First you EXERCISE

The PAIN is too much

 So you STOP EXERCISING

Now you are discouraged and you FEEL WORSE

I have had a number of clients over the years that have fallen into this cycle.  Every time they started a new exercise program, their bad back flared up or their joints started to ache too much.  Even if they initially saw some results with weight loss and increased stamina, these gains were soon overshadowed by persistent pain that sapped the fun out of the workout and/or left them with pain that lingered all day.  Their exercise program brought on too much pain.

If you work at feeling good first and eliminating the chronic muscle tension that can produce exercise pain, you are more likely to achieve success with your New Year's Resolution. – Maria Foster

By incorporating the PUSH Therapy program a positive cycle can be started.

First FEEL BETTER

Then start to EXERCISE

So you can LOSE WEIGHT

Then you FEEL EVEN BETTER

I had a client who was an active eighty three year old.  She enjoyed taking classes several times a week at the Senior Recreation Center.  But then she developed some debilitating mid-back pain that made everything, including exercise, a trial.  Using treatment, we made headway on resolving her pain.  But her sessions also involved a lot of education around how she was using her body in ways that unknowingly created a lot of chronic muscle tension.  I didn’t want her to stop doing what she loved.  But she needed to learn that if she kept doing her activities in the same manner, she would likely continue to encounter the same pain issues.

As it happened, she originally came into the office around the holidays, so her exercise classes were suspended for a few weeks.  She was feeling much better by the time her classes resumed and she told me that the first day back, she tried to do everything just the way she had done before.  The result:  the back pain returned with exercise.  The following day when she returned to her class, she still did all the exercises with everyone else, but she modified them slightly based on what she had learned from her sessions with me.  The result:  no back pain with exercise.

The average person watching her would be unable to tell that she was doing anything different from everyone else in class.  She got the benefits of exercise without developing exercise pain.  She worked on feeling better first, so that she could keep exercising.  Being able to exercise made her feel even better.

If you are struggling with your workout and starting to develop exercise pain, don’t get discouraged.  Schedule a consultation today by calling (970) 590-2856.  Let me help you feel better, so that you can go out and achieve your New Year’s resolution. 

Don't let your exercise pain ruin your plans!


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Posted in Exercise, Exercise pain, Pain Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment