If you’re suffering from fibromyalgia, you know that muscle weakness and pain is one of your primary symptoms. The aches, stiffness, and pain are very often contributing factors to the increased fatigue you feel as well as any disabilities you may have.
Many times, those suffering from fibromyalgia find that they can’t continue remaining active because the fibromyalgia has resulted in persistent pain and a decreased range of motion. Many researchers have theorized that injuries and muscle traumas could actually be a cause of fibromyalgia- a theory that many fibromyalgia patients will agree with.
Muscle Microtraumas
Something you may not realize is that muscle injuries can be caused by nearly anything- form aggressive exercise to car crashes. The truth is that everyone will experience a muscle injury of some sort at some point in their lives. Many of these traumas will stay dormant- you’ll never notice them. However, most of the time, you’ll know pretty soon after a trauma that you have an injury.
When it comes to individuals with fibromyalgia, there is really no “typical” history. The main complaint is that they are experiencing severe pain in their back, neck, and shoulders. In most cases, they have not had any prior issues with constant pain before they experienced the trauma.
The pain set in after the accident or trauma and just never went away. For a short time, x-rays, pain medications, evaluations, and other medical treatments seem to work, but the pain just keeps on just like it was when it started.
Most individuals don’t even really notice microtraumas. You may have a trauma due to a car accident or exercise in the nerves or tiny muscles in your body. The muscles can become torn, which eventually causes trigger points to form.
Trigger points, also known as tender points, are areas of the body in your soft tissues that are extremely painful and sensitive when pressed. Due to their location in the body, physicians use them as one of the in criteria for diagnosing fibromyalgia.
When there are widespread tender points in specific locations in the body, a physician will diagnose an individual as having generalized fibromyalgia. On the other hand, if a physician gives a diagnosis of localized- or regional- fibromyalgia, that means this is local to a specific area- upper body, back, lower back, and other places. In most cases, individuals who have what is referred to as post-traumatic fibromyalgia have abnormal nodes or tightness with localized muscle spasms that can be felt when touched.
Weakness of Muscles
When you first injure a muscle, your very first impulse will likely be to give your muscles a break and lie down. Though it may seem to be helpful, it can actually cause more pain- even to the point of causing you to develop fibromyalgia. You must keep exercising your muscles to maintain their healthy tone and condition.
If you rest your muscles for an extended period of time, they will end up losing their tone and strength and become extremely weak. Then, when you do start exercising again, you’ll be likely to experience spasms, which occurs when your muscles become congested and tight. Things such as nutrients, waste materials and oxygen will then be able to become trapped in the muscles, therefore increasing the pain you experience. This is the reason that researchers believe muscle injuries could cause the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Injury to Central Nervous System
In addition to traumas and microtraumas, central nervous system injuries seem to be connected to fibromyalgia. Your central nervous system is comprised of your brain and spinal cord. Both of these can easily become injured through stress, infections, or accidents. When you injure your central nervous system, this can cause interference with the release and the flow of hormones, neurotransmitters, and blood, which can lead to extreme pain along with other symptoms.
One study looked at the occurrence of symptoms of fibromyalgia in individuals experiencing neck trauma. It was seen that individuals who have injuries to their neck are thirteen times more likely to have fibromyalgia than those who do not have a neck injury.
Additionally, injury to your central nervous system can cause interference with your brainwaves, which are patterns that are indicative of the activities of your brain. There are four forms of brainwaves and each one indicates a different process. Injuries can cause interference in these, which leads to fibro-fog, sleep problems, and other symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia Knows No Boundaries
Fibromyalgia can strike anyone at any time- men, women, children. However, it is known that it does tend to affect women more often than it does men- especially during their childbearing years. Over 80 percent of individuals suffering from fibromyalgia are women. The alarming fact is that more and more children are being diagnosed with Pediatric, or Juvenile, fibromyalgia.
It is much harder to diagnose a child with fibromyalgia than it is to diagnose an adult because the symptoms come on very gradually and children are typically inconsistent when describing their symptoms. However, their symptoms are not unlike symptoms of an adult.
Additionally, seniors struggle with the added challenges of fibromyalgia on top of their other health issues. Due to the fact that they are likely already dealing with conditions that have similar symptoms, diagnosing fibromyalgia in seniors can be much more difficult.
Treating Fibromyalgia
Currently, there is no cure for fibromyalgia. However, there are lots of treatment options available. You can utilize medical treatments and medications to help with the pain of fibromyalgia. Additionally, alternative treatments such as acupuncture or acupressure are becoming very popular.
The best way to treat your fibromyalgia is with a team of your physician, physical therapist, and even professionals in the pain management field. Of course, you should know that it will likely take you a few years to put together a team like this that is willing to work with you on a treatment plan. Still, once you finally get it done, they can make a very big difference in your overall quality of life.
Further reading:
Injury and Muscle Trauma: http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_trauma.html
Fibromyalgia Causes: http://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/guide/fibromyalgia-causes
Can Trauma Cause Fibromyalgia? http://www.everydayhealth.com/fibromyalgia/can-trauma-cause-fibromyalgia.aspx
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