Exercise Can Ease Fibromyalgia Pain
Low-impact exercise reduces pain and fatigue – and
increases your ability to function.
Fibromyalgia is so difficult to diagnose that it can take years before
patients understand whats making their bodies ache. When Lynn Matallana began
noticing unexplained pain and fatigue in 1993 -- pain in every part of my
body, pain that felt like acid in my veins -- it took her nearly two years
and 37 doctors before she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. In that time, the
former partner in an advertising and public relations firm says, went from
being an extremely active, high-functioning, happy individual to being confined
to bed in physical and emotional agony.
Once an avid skier, dancer, and
yoga practitioner, Matallana, 53, of Orange, Calif., had days where she
couldnt get out of bed. It was literally a process to think of turning
over and swinging my legs out, she says. It was difficult to even go to
the bathroom. She eventually had to retire from her advertising career.
Treating fibromyalgia with exercise
The National Fibromyalgia Association estimates that between 3% and 6% of the
population -- mostly women -- has fibromyalgia, an unexplained condition
characterized by chronic pain and fatigue. For many years, fibromyalgia was
little recognized or understood, but now the American College of Rheumatology
provides doctors diagnostic criteria, and in 2007, the FDA approved the first
drug to treat fibromyalgia.
Recent research shows that exercise can help. A 2007 study in the Archives of
Internal Medicine found that women with fibromyalgia in a four-month exercise
program reported significant improvements in physical function, fatigue, and
depression.
Light aerobic exercise seems to be best, says Roland Staud, MD, director of
the Center for Musculoskeletal Pain Research at the University of Florida. Moving about in a warm pool -- swimming, walking, floating, or stretching --
is very helpful. It takes about a week to two weeks to see improvement, and then
people notice they can do more things without becoming fatigued or in pain, and
they sleep better and feel better.
Why exercise helps fibromyalgia
Its a conundrum -- the thing thats hardest to do when you have
fibromyalgia is one of the best things for it. Why? Thats not well
understood, says Staud. Moderate exercise is clearly beneficial for
fibromyalgia, but we dont know exactly how.
For Matallana, yoga helped get her out of bed. I had a yoga instructor
come to my home three times a week. At first I was so debilitated that I just
lay on the floor and visualized moving again. Over months she moved to
stretching, walking, and water exercise. Three years ago, she tandem-biked 310
miles of a fund-raising bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Today, exercise gives Matallana who has gone on to become the founder and
president of the National Fibromyalgia Association -- the energy to be active
and cope with her condition. If I miss a few days, I start feeling the pain
more, she says. Be consistent and continue when you have bad days, and
youll have fewer bad days.
A yoga move for fibromyalgia
One yoga move that helped Matallana was the modified tree pose or
Vriksha-asana, which can help develop balance, centering, and core strength. To
start:
Stand facing a wall, with
your right hand flat against the wall for support.
Place your feet together.
Shift your weight onto your right foot and lift your left foot off the
floor.
Bend the left knee and bring the sole of your left foot high onto the
inner right thigh.
Press the foot into the thigh and the thigh back into the foot as you
raise your left arm over your head.
Switch sides.
As you gain confidence, do this move without the wall for support and instead
raise both arms over your head, palms together.