Fibromyalgia pain treatment may be found at your local yoga studio. Oftentimes fibromyalgia pain is something people learn to have to live with and manage. It”s hard for many of us to imagine: being in near constant pain. But that”s what fibromyalgia patients suffer with and it affects 3 to 6 million people in the United States. The hardest part is that there is no surefire way to treat it. Most try drugs, but of those people only 30 percent find relief. However, it seems there is hope in an ancient practice. A recent study found that a comprehensive yoga workout, which included light stretching, breath and meditation, helped alleviate suffering from fibromyalgia symptoms.
The study looked at women over the age of 21 who were suffering from fibromyalgia. Half the women took yoga courses and practiced what they learned at home and the other half did not. The yoga group reported phpaide.com a significant reduction in pain and no one reported that they were much worse than when the study started. Whereas a few women in the control group reported that they were much worse than when they began the study.
- Most fibromyalgia sufferers are women
- It is the second most common ailment affecting the musculoskeletal system after osteoarthritis
- Symptoms include increased sensitivity to pain, pain and fatigue in muscles and tendons, long-term body-wide pain and fatigue as well as facial tenderness.
What’s interesting is that researchers hypothesized that it wasn’t just the stretching that helped, the meditation and breathing aided participants just as much with pain and a more positive outlook. Another study found that people who meditate had more control over their pain and were more relaxed.
If you do decide to try yoga to help alleviate your fibromyalgia, remember to go slow. Take a light yoga course that also includes meditation and breathing exercises. It’s not just the exercise that helps; it”s being in the right frame of mind to control stress and learning to relax.
There are many alternative treatments for fibromyalgia including acupuncture, massage therapy, biofeedback hydrotherapy and humor therapy. Although there is not a lot of research on the efficacy of these treatments, consult your doctor and do you own research, and hopefully you will find something that helps you control your pain. Namaste!