One of the most unique characteristics associated with fibromyalgia syndrome are that of fibromyalgia tender points. Fibromyalgia tender points are generalized local pain upon pressure of the tissue that surrounds joints, or in the joints themselves. Fibromyalgia tender points also happen to be one of the key diagnosing factors related to the syndrome, as 11 of the 18 possible tender points must be symptomatic for a proper diagnosis.

Other symptoms might include but are not limited to headaches, depression, skin irritation, dysmenorrhea, memory loss, and chronic. Since these symptoms may be found in other diseases, illnesses, and syndromes, fibromyalgia tender points remain one of the keys to differentiating fibromyalgia and other disorders.

Since fibromyalgia tender points are extremely sensitive to touch, it is important that examiners take great caution when evaluating the areas. The fact that muscles, tendons, and fibrotic tissue often have symptoms of discomfort and weakness is a key component to understand whether fibromyalgia tender points are present in a presenting patient.

Fibromyalgia Tender Points are evaluated in the following areas:

• Occiput
• Cervical Spine
• The Second Rib
• Supraspinatus Muscle
• The Trapezius
• Lateral Epicondyle
• Gluteal Muscle
• Knee
• The Greater Trochanter

Upon evaluation of these areas a physician can make a proper diagnosis of fibromyalgia syndrome. There are other disorders that may also have symptoms of fibromyalgia tender points, such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) but they do not occur in as many places as with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Fibromyalgia Tender Points and Chiropractic

Nutritional issues, thyroid dysfunction, oxygen deprivation and neurological imbalances are all areas that we assess at out clinic. Effective pain relief treatments for the symptoms of fibromyalgia tender points have been seen with certain types of chiropractic care and chiropractic and meticulously administered myofascial therapy.

Posted from Lakewood, Colorado, United States.

I like simple. So here is my two-part advice for for staying and getting healthy: Out with the bad. In with the good.

One way to achieve those two simply healthy goals is to do a detox bath occasionally (out with the bad). I like LL’s Magnetic Clay Detox Baths. After doing the detox bath, I slather on some Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil (in with the good).

The Magnesium oil isn’t actually an oil after all, but instead was coined as such due to the high saturation of magnesium chloride in water, which presents itself in an oil-like texture. Ancient Minerals ultra-pure magnesium oil is extracted from the Ancient Zechstein Seabed in Europe, from deep in the interior of the Earth. It’s the most pure magnesium oil in the world and a mark of purity on every bottle of Ancient Minerals. Most everyone I test is deficient in this vitally important mineral.

Benefits of Ancient Minerals Magnesium Oil:

• Restores cellular magnesium levels
• Acts as a cellular protectant
• Supports detoxification
• Relieves aches and pains
• Improves mood and relieves stress
• Encourages healthy skin tissue

Benefits of Clay Detox Baths:

1. The baths are an untreated, unaltered product, used for thousands of years utilizing the Earth’s natural healing properties.
2. The baths safe and effective as an aid to detoxification when used according to the bath instructions. One bath releases years of toxic environmental pollutants that have been accumulating–out of your body and into the bathtub.
3. The baths are inexpensive and do not require costly equipment. They can save you hundreds of dollars and lots of time compared to chelation therapy and other forms of environmental detoxification programs.
4. The baths can be taken in the privacy of your own home, with minimal inconvenience.
5. Healing properties can be maximized if used in combination with other cleansing and maintenance programs.
6. Formulas of all natural spices and herbs have been synergistically tested as well as specific testing for amounts to maximize the effectiveness of each formula.
7. The baths now have available–CDA’s. CDA’s are clay dissolving agents which enable easier clean-up after each bath. Use 1 set for baths using 2 ½ cups of clay or more.
8. Has been tested to show that metals and chemicals are removed through the use of these special formulas.
9. The baths can be used by children and the elderly.
10. The clay and formula ingredients are all natural.
11. Test results have shown that the clay detox bath detoxifies metals from the body much faster than other types of chelation.
12. Clay formulas have no emulsifiers or chemical additives to them for easier mixing.
13. No other clay that has as much natural “pulling power” as LL’s Magnetic Clay.
14. Clay Detox Baths specialize in detoxing metals and chemicals.
15. Has very small amounts of aluminum compared to most bentonites with 67% to 75%.

The one-two punch of doing detox baths and magnesium oil is a healthy home spa-ahhh treatment.

Supplementary studies propose that spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments) and myofascial therapy (myofascial release) improved some of the FMS patients’ symptoms, especially the most prolific symptom- pain.(4,5) And in yet another controlled study, para-spinal soft-tissue massage along with chiropractic spinal manipulation worked to increase FMS patients’ general sense of well-being.(6)

Other studies, though, suggest that the long-term use of spinal manipulation does not measurably improve the pain and functional impairment of FMS patients.(7-9)

?

These reports are why I do not use spinal manipulation as the sole modality to treat Fibromyalgia in my Denver chiropractors clinic. Contrarily, these reports are one of the reasons I sometimes do.  Treatment plans must be customized to the individual. Spinal manipulation is a tool. Myofascial release is a tool and tools should be used accordingly, based on a fluctuating number of individual factors. In my clinical experience, Fibromyalgia patients who receive too much spinal manipulation or too aggressive spinal manipulation may actually react adversely and get worse. I’ve have found that most Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue patients need metabolic rehabilitation as well as neurological relief.

Most suffer from what I call “Nerve Exhaustion.”

The fact is that spinal manipulation and deep tissue therapy may offer mild-to-moderate but temporary pain relief. Most patients achieve long-term reprieve from pain and additional symptoms only when they go through comprehensive metabolic and neurological treatment and physical rehabilitation.

1. Wolfe, F, Smythe, HA, Yunus, MB, et al. The American College of Rheumatology 1990

criteria for the classification of fibromyalgia: report of the multicenter criteria committee.

Arthritis Rheumatism 1990; 33:160-172.

2. Pioro-Boisset M, Esdaile JM, and Fitzcharles MA: Alternative medicine use in fibromyalgia

syndrome. Arthritis Care Res 1996; 9(1):13-17.

3. Wolfe F. The clinical syndrome of fibrositis. Am J Med 1986; 81(suppl 3A):7-14. 35. Wolfe

F. Personal communication, March 8, 1991.

4. Blunt, K.L., Rajwani, M.H., and Guerriero, R.C.: The effectiveness of chiropractic

management of fibromyalgia patients: a pilot study. J Manip Physiol Ther 1997; 20(6):389-399.

5. Hains G, and Hains F. A combined ischemic compression and spinal manipulation in the

treatment of fibromyalgia: A preliminary estimate of dose and efficacy. J Manip Physiol Ther

2000; 23(4):225-230.

6. Backstrom G and Rubin BR. When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away. Dallas: Taylor Publishing

Company, 1992.

7. Dimmock S, Troughton PR, and Bird HA. Factors predisposing to the resort of

complementary therapies in patients with fibromyalgia. Clin Rheumatol 1996; 15(5):478-482.

8. Jacobs JW, Rasker JJ, Van Riel PL, Gridnau FW, and van de Putte LB. Alternative treatment

methods in rheumatic diseases: a literature review. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1991; 135(8):317-

322.

9. Fitzcharles MA and Esdaile JM. Nonphysician practitioner treatments and fibromyalgia

syndrome. J Rheumatol 1997; 24(5):937-940

As a Denver CAM doctor, when performing a fibromyalgia treatment, I do not treat fibromyalgia solely a musculoskeletal disorder- because it isn’t solely a musculoskeletal disorder.

Fibromyalgia is far more neurologically based than muscularly based. It’s just that your muscles feel most of the pain. Most of the Fibromyalgia diagnoses that I see come from Rheumatologists. A Rhueumatologist, by definition, is a  doctor that specializes in disorders of joints and soft tissues- not nerves. Effective Fibromyalgia treatment should be at least, in part, neurologically based.

In this article I will bring some evidence to the table that may cause you to question whether Fibromyalgia is more of a joint and soft tissue disorder or, as I and others feel it is, a neurological disorder. And whether the Fibromyalgia treatment you has was appropriate.

Plenty of new research shows that a Fibromyalgia diagnosis and hence the treatment is far more likely to be of a neurological origin then a rheumatic one.  The term rheumatology originates from the Greek word rheuma, meaning “that which flows as a river or stream,” and the suffix -ology, meaning “the study of.” (Which is ironic to me since nerves and blood seem to flow like a river much more than joints).

Most of my Fibromyalgia treatments are administered to patients that are chronically tired. But what actually get tired is your brain.

“Nerve Exhaustion” is a phrase I’ve coined that I feel accurately describes what happens in Fibromyalgia.

One of the unique treatment approaches I employ for fibromyalgia patients is the use of oxygen therapy.

Listen to what noted Professor of Medicine MAJID ALI, M.D. has to say about the four major symptoms of Fibromyalgia sufferers……

4 Major Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

• Persistent muscle pain and weakness. Explanation: Oxygen deprivation contributes to muscle pain.

• Disabling fatigue. Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in tissue can lead to fatigue and exhaustion.

• Brain fog (problems of mood, memory, and implementation). Explanation: Oxygen deprivation in brain cells lead to brain fog and dysfunction.

• Air hunger. Explanation: Oxygen deprivation within the cells causes a craving for air.

I do not take the treatment or diagnosis of Fibromyalgia lightly and you should steer clear of anyone who thinks otherwise. A recent study uncovered evidence that a Fibromyalgia diagnosis can be far more damaging than you may realize.

In The Journal of Neuroscience, a study revealed that the brain can be prematurely aging in Fibromyalgia patients.

And what may be more important is that they found that the longer the individual had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, the more gray matter they had lost. This makes fibromyalgia treatment a must.

“Accumulating evidence now suggests that fibromyalgia may be associated with central nervous system dysfunction.”

The brain matter loss was more than 9 times the normal aging!

Other studies also point to a possible explanation for the decreased gray matter in these disorders. It may be atrophy caused by excitotoxicity or exposure to inflammatory processes (Apkarian et al., 2004). In reviewing the above studies it’s remarkable that in Fibromyalgia patients, gray matter loss occurred predominately in regions of the brain that are most related to stress.

Fibromyalgia Treatment and the Road to Recovery

Stress can be managed and I believe it MUST be managed for you to get better. The above research should be all you need to be motivated to adopt some kind of stress management protocol that works for you.

The road to recovery IS often long and difficult. But there IS a road to recovery. I can assure you it’s bumpy but there IS a road- you just may not have found it yet.

My grandfather once told me,

“No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, turn around… it’s the WRONG road!”

If what the above mentioned studies are saying in terms of brain aging is true, then every moment that you don’t get help counts against you.

The pursuit of health should be paramount in your habits and actions. I know it’s hard, but you have Fibromyalgia, so you’ve proven you can do hard. Fibromyalgia pain is hard.

Denver Fibromyalgia Treatment

With the addition of oxygen therapy to my Fibromyalgia syndrome treatment protocols I’ve noticed a marked improvement when other methods were not causing patients to get better. When it comes to what this CAM  doctor thinks about Fibromyalgia treatment in Denver…I say never give up.

Journal of Neuroscience April 11, 2007 • 27(15):4004 – 4007 www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/15/4004

Fibromyalgia treatment can be obtained at our Lakewood, CO Chiropractic Clinic.

Posted from Lakewood, Colorado, United States.

Yep.

As a chiropractor in Denver I understand what it means to live ‘a mile high.’

Your brain uses about 20% of all the oxygen that enters your blood from the lungs. But the brain only makes up about 2% of your total body mass.

It’s an oxygen hog.

Your brain consumes and requires more oxygen than any other organ in the body. So, inherently, it’s extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation.

That being said, here’s my FREE Healthy Tip of the Day: Breathe deeply to keep your brain joyfully swimming in cells that are bathed in oxygen.

I see a lot of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Fibromyalgia (FM). One of the most important modalities that I employ is oxygen therapy.

It can be very effective.

In fact, oxygen therapy for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is one of the “keys” I use in managing those conditions naturally. Fibromyalgia has so many neurological components to it. The nervous system needs oxygen to function. Ignore that fact and you get sub-par results.

To make a complex concept simple, your brain and nervous system need two things to survive:

FUEL and ACTIVATION.

The most important forms of fuel come in the form of oxygen and glucose.  You get glucose from the foods that you eat, but as we age our ability to utilize oxygen decreases.  It’s called oxidative phosphorizalation (scientific talk for ‘your body doesn’t utilize oxygen as effectively as it should anymore.’)

Now add to the mix that most people are shallow breathers and that we live at 5,280 feet and you can start to see why you may not be getting enough fuel for your brain and nervous system. I’d feel tired, beat up and worn down too if I were a brain.

Oxygen is to the body what gas is to your car.  Without gas in the car you’re not driving anywhere.

Without sufficient amounts of oxygen available for your brain and nervous system, not only can you age prematurely but many of the various treatments you attempt may not get you much better.

Breathe…..