Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that includes musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and sleep problems – and affects over 10 million Americans, most of which are women.
Fibromyalgia results in widespread pain in all four quadrants of your body. Getting a diagnosis of fibromyalgia can be difficult because many symptoms, as listed below, mimic other conditions and come and go without clear reason or triggers.
- Sleep disturbances are significant in fibromyalgia, including insomnia and frequent waking during the night due to pain.
- Chronic fatigue is common. Many who suffer with fibromyalgia wake feeling tired because of sleep disturbances during the night. These disturbances interfere with the body’s ability to recover and repair. Thus, fibromyalgia sufferers wake feeling tired and fatigued, as well as with a lack of recovery in muscle tissue, which results in more pain . . . then more sleep disturbances . . . then more pain.
- Cognitive difficulties, coined “fibro fog”, occur as a result of the constant pain and disturbances to restorative sleep that occur. Being in constant, daily pain, with ongoing sleep disturbances, makes it an everyday challenge for fibromyalgia sufferers to concentrate.
Unfortunately, other conditions often accompany fibromyalgia such as migraines, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Inflammation is a major component of fibromyalgia, which increases the incident of many autoimmune diseases as well as the symptoms of any preexisting autoimmune or inflammation based conditions.
Did You Know?
- Fibromyalgia affects about 4 million US adults, about 2% of the adult population.
- If you have lupus or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), you are more likely to develop fibromyalgia.
- Fibromyalgia can affect people of all ages, including children. However, most people are diagnosed during middle age and you are more likely to have fibromyalgia as you get older.
Symptoms & Conditions:
- Widespread pain that has lasted for 3 or more months
- Constant fatigue, despite sleeping for long periods
- Inability to focus, feeling scatter-brained
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Migraine and other types of headaches
- Interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome
- Temporomandibular joint disorders
How Bowenwork® Helps
Bowen suits Fibromyalgia suffers well because it is slow and very gentle and should not result in flare-ups after the session. Bowen helps open the muscle and fascia fibers in the body which increases circulation, improves oxygenation, relaxes tension in the body, and helps reduce inflammation and pain. Bowen has also been found to increase the state of mind and mental clarity, by reducing anxiety and depression. When the body is working more optimally, better sleep will also be achieved. All of these outcomes greatly improve the symptoms of fibromyalgia, making Bowen a fantastic therapy option.
