Fibromyalgia Or Chronic Pain? Which Came First?
There's seems to be an epidemic of pain in our country. There is a significant amount of confusion about the diagnosis of fibromyalgia and chronic pain, and which came first. A person with fibromyalgia has points along their body that if touched can alert them of their condition. If you are tender or feel pain in more than 10 of the 18 points, then you might be considered to have fibromyalgia.
I have seen quite a few people that thought they had fibromyalgia and are in chronic pain. One of the first things I ask them is where did the pain originate from? Your knee? Or perhaps your feet? Sometimes it can start at the hip or lower back, or a bad car accident brought on the onset of pain. So, in other words, they didn't have all those tender points all at once. First, it started in the knee. Then a few months later pain was felt in the hip and back and up into the neck and head.
Knowing “where” the pain originated from is a critical step to be able to figure out “why” they have that pain in the first place. It's been shown that over 90 percent of chronic pain can come from tight, shortened muscles, including pain from lower back pain, migraines, and plantar fasciitis to name a few.
I believe that most people with fibromyalgia have myofascial trigger points as well (connective muscle pain). For example, if you can't turn in bed in the morning because it hurts your hips or back, then that can usually come from a tight muscle.
True fibromyalgia patients have full range of motion when examined, no tight muscles. Someone that can't bend over or reach their arm over their head lets me know that that person must have muscles that are tight and need to be released.
A knotted muscle (trigger point) can refer pain to the body. The common low back pain across the waistline comes from the muscle in the front of our body, the rectus abdominis. The goal is to help you find the “why” of your pain and then together we can stop the muscle from being tight and get you back to an active lifestyle again.
