Fibromyalgia is a condition that affects more people than we think it does. The truth of the situation is that the condition is currently causing pain for 1 to 3% of the population in the USA. A person only needs to break that down into millions to realize how big of a percentage that one to three percent really is in the total population.
We also have to consider another condition that is very similar to Fibromyalgia which is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Both of these conditions are serious problems for those people who are affected by their symptoms. The two conditions are closely related and there is some debate on whether or not they are the same thing, but either way you look at it. They are both problems for people who live in USA. Again, we have to look at the percent of a group of people expressed as a number. We get a true view of how much this problem is affecting the United States when we take a hard look at the number of people affected.
18 million people are waking up every day to the pain and suffering of Fibromyalgia which is very unfortunate for these people. The two conditions are serious and can really limit the ability of the person affected to move or experience life as much as they would like to experience life. The people with Fibromyalgia do their best to live normal lives and be as productive as people without the condition. It is not always easy.
Once again, we have to look at the number of people in the US affected by this condition to get a understanding of how much this condition could not only be affecting the sufferer but the lives of people around that person. The problem is inter-gender; however, it does seem as if females develop the condition more often than men.
Not only is the condition inter-general, it also attacks various points around the body. It is known for attacking such places as the tendons and ligaments. However, strength and conditioning training can help a person a lot if they are dealing with this condition. Studies show that people with Fibromyalgia have 35% less strength and endurance. The lack of strength and condition could be caused by the disease itself or it is a secondary symptom of the condition. A person’s lack of movement could be playing a lead role in the loss of strength and conditioning. Many of these people find it hard to start an exercise program because of the pain and lack of strength. Unfortunately, that leads itself right into weakening the muscular system even more over time. Osteoporotic people have weak and brittle bones and they also can have Fibromyalgia at the same time. People who have both conditions have less strength around their spinal column and their core muscles. The lack of movement also seems to affect the ability of the person to do aerobic exercise. Measurements of their chest expansions seem to be far less than those people who do not have the condition(s).
However, there is something that a person can do to be proactive. They can choose to exercise to try to counter balance these problems. Starting an exercise program is not without its own problems such as people making the workouts too hard in the beginning. The consistency a person has with exercise is directly tied to how intense that workout is in the beginning. Lower intensity programs tend to have better retention rates when compared with programs that are more intense from the very beginning of the exercise training regime. A person should also look to make their exercise simple so that they do not need a lot of fancy equipment to begin their training. Keeping obstacles to a minimum is important to a first-time exerciser and everything should be done to make sure that the main goal of training in the beginning is consistency. Despite all of this, it is important that we realize that the pain will not immediately go away despite the proactive actions of the exerciser. Consistency is the key to making sure that the exercise program can be effective in helping the person experience less pain in other areas of their life not including the workouts. A person who makes the inverse choice of not exercising is ultimately choosing to experience increased amounts of pain over their lifetime. The lack of exercise will also limit what they can do in their day especially if the cycle of non-training persists for a very long time. It is likely that they will not have the strength or conditioning to perform the tasks they need to undertake during the day. A person must make sure that they fully committed to doing their exercises in order to maximize their ability to manage the pain and experience less pain when performing their necessary daily activities. It does take some bravery though, admittedly. The exerciser may feel as if they are going to injure their body by exercising. The exercises may feel like they are causing more pain than they taking away from the person. However, that is normal, working out is something the body has to adjust to and it will not like it for a short awhile. Pain is nature’s indicator that something very bad is happening to us and that we should make a conscious decision to end the problem or to bear through the problem until it ends. We are most likely to see the pain as something we should avoid. However, in this instance, pain is a signal that there is something wrong with the body but it usually does not have anything to do with the exercise, it has to do with the condition. The exercises must give themselves a true evaluation of the situation and ask themselves if the pain is getting worse as they continue to exercise. If the pain is getting worse then they need to think about how they can lower the intensity of the exercise and work up to that level slowly. Exercise is something that has to be worked up to and there is no rushing the body into being able to handle the new stresses it has encountered.
It is possible that using that focus from training through the pain of exercising may allow the person better concentration in other areas of life. Exercise can be a stress relief or it can be stressful if the person is hurting. Fibromyalgia patients can use that focus they use when they are not exercising. They can focus on the task at hand while managing their pain without the extra factors from the workout.
A weight training program may just be the perfect thing for a person who has Fibromyalgia. A study used thirteen older women to demonstrate the value of exercise and specifically strength training. They study lasted 21 weeks and used weight training as the core exercise model. The subject found that they developed strength which could help them with their everyday chores. The training also helped them experience less pain when their Fibromyalgia was expressing itself.
If you have Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome then exercise just might be the thing for you. You are going to lose muscle tone, strength endurance by doing nothing. However, you have a choice and that choice is to start training responsibility. Of course, every exerciser should consult their medical professional before doing any exercise program. The health provider needs to be thorough in their examination to make sure they know actually what is happening and what could happen if the person does certain movement that could be detrimental to the exerciser. The health provider needs to examine everything to make sure that there are no complications with exercise or with the spinal cord.
Disclaimer: This information should be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.