Part of having excellent musculoskeletal health is being educated about the common diseases that you are vulnerable to and looking at different ways to treating them if and when they occur. These conditions include fibromyalgia, polymyalgia rheumatica, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. In today’s Body Talk I want to draw your attention to fibromyalgia and the way Remedial Massage can help, but remember that some of these ideas and concepts will equally apply to other similar musculoskeletal problems.
Fibromyalgia is a very painful condition often found mostly in women (75-90%) as well as men and it affects 3-6% of the world’s population (1). With distressing symptoms, this condition can have a massive negative impact on day-to-day living.
Unclear Medical Cause
The exact medical causes of Fibromyalgia are often a source of contention with numerous etiologies proposed such as hormonal influences as well as genetic predispositions. Combinations of physical and emotional stimuli has also been proposed as contributing factors to the disease. This highlights one of the advantages of systems of medicine like Naturopathic, Homoeopathic or Ayurvedic medicine that are not necessarily contingent on have clear cause of particular diseases – I have often written on this topic – treating illnesses that have no known cause using Naturopathic approaches.
This Disease Can Impair The Quality Of Your Life
One of the most obvious symptoms of Fibromyalgia is chronic fatigue, anxiety and pain. Some patients have also experienced long cycles of insomnia after the onset of this condition. Fibromyalgia patients are often found to have depression, however, it is not clear whether depression causes fibromyalgia or if it is the other way round. The actual diagnosis of fibromyalgia is not straight forward, as I mentioned and the criteria has changed over the years. If you would like more information on this go to: http://chronicfatigue.about.com/od/diagnosingfmscfs/a/diagnosingfibro.htm
Remedial Massage Brings Relief
There aren’t many proven treatment methods that offer considerable reduction in fibromyalgic pain. But, many patients have reported that regular remedial massage sessions have brought down the pain intensity. It is not exactly clear as to which type of massage is most effective in alleviating pain, but most patients have experienced relief after undergoing Swedish massage, Deep tissue massage, neuromuscular massage and Ayurvedic massage.
In ‘Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice’, (2014) Field reports: “Moderate pressure massage has contributed to many positive effects including…. reduced pain in different syndromes including fibromyalgia…” (2)
The underlying principle in many massage techniques is the same – apply adequate pressure to various body parts to enhance the blood circulation as well as to regulate the production of various body hormones, releasing of toxic biochemical products from the muscles and of course inducing relaxation of the nervous system.
Of these, the most important is the regulation of the stress hormone, Cortisol. Even a small reduction in the level of this hormone can bring relief for fibromyalgia patients.
A review in 2014 states: “Massage therapy with duration = 5 weeks had beneficial immediate effects on improving pain, anxiety, and depression in patients with FM. Massage therapy should be one of the viable complementary and alternative treatments for FM.” (3)
Massage is also known to provide relief from severe pain and even prevent recurring insomnia.
Holistic Relief From This Distressing Condition
In my clinic I use a combination of Naturopathic approaches as well as specific Remedial massage techniques to help maximise the health of the musculoskeletal system. In terms of Naturopathic medicines, herbal medicines for example can be an excellent way to help the muscle tissue to function in a healthy way, but like all holistic approaches, we need to be looking at life style issues, nutrition, emotional and mental health as well, as all these factors have a bearing on the level of health you enjoy. But having said that, Remedial massage alone can certainly provide relief to people with fibromyalgia.
Note on Magnesium: Every second person, just about, is taking a magnesium supplement thanks to effective marketing campaigns. Just remember that is it not going to treat or heal a condition like fibromyalgia, or any other problem for that matter except a magnesium deficiency. It is a symptomatic approach that may help with symptoms but it can leave the underlying cause of the problem, unaddressed.
References
(1) http://www.fmcpaware.org/fibromyalgia/prevalence.html
(2) Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2014 Nov;20(4):224-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2014.07.002. E pub 2014 Aug 1. Massage therapy research review. Field T1.
(3) Massage therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Li YH, Wang FY, Feng CQ, Yang XF, Sun YH. PLoS One. 2014 Feb 20;9(2):e89304. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089304. eCollection 2014. PMID: 24586677