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Benefits of MT for Fibromyalgia suffers

Hi - I'm collecting information for a research project displaying the benefits of MT for Fibro suffers. I have a good amount of well documented studies but I would like to include some practical experiences as well. If you are interested in sharing the benefits you have seen in your practice I would love to read about them.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Susan G. Salvo on April 20, 2010 at 10:24am

Pamela,

Here's a few studies:

Sunshine, W., Field, T., Schanberg, S., Quintino, O., Fierro, K., Kuhn, C., Burman, I., and Schanberg, S. (1996). Fibromyalgia benefits from massage therapy and transcutaneous electrical stimulation. Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, 2, 18-22.

Field, T., Diego, M., Cullen, C., Hernandez-Reif, M., Sunshine, W., & Douglas, S. (2002). Fibromyalgia pain and substance P decrease and sleep improved after massage therapy. Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, 8, 72-76.

Field, T., Delage, J. and Hernandez-Reif, M. (2003). Movement and massage therapy reduces fibromyalgia pain. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies,7, 49-52.

Asplund R (2003). Manual lymph drainage therapy using light massage for fibromyalgia sufferers: a pilot study. Journal of Orthopaedic Nursing 7(4):192–196.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Jeffrey on April 20, 2010 at 12:09pm

My Fibromyalgia client used to have to shut down and be in bed for 3 to 6 days every month before she had massage.
Now she :-
has a much bigger warning window in which she realizes when she is overdoing it, so she stops and stays healthy.
Better off financially as she is self employed and stays working.
Has much more confidence in tackling her fathers dimentia as she has the strength to look after him each day.

The fibro is still there, but it is a duller pain and she has learnt how to manage it.

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Permalink Reply by Erica Olson on April 20, 2010 at 3:01pm

I have a couple of clients that I've been working on for years that have fibro. In one instance, I remember one of them coming in, barely able to walk. She got off the table moving smoothly and easily as anyone else; it was the most dramatic change I've ever seen in a client. I've had sessions working on just her back, shoulders, and arms, unlacing trigger points, and I've had other sessions where I've been able to steamroller her out.

With the other--I'd worked on her in school, so didn't have access to her medical records. I had her fill out an intake form, but she didn't put the fibro down. One time, early in my practice, she came in and asked for whatever I could give her. As she usually did well with a firm hand, I did so again. She got off the table worse than when she got on (I felt terrible!), but mentioned fibromyalgia as she was leaving. Whenever working on her, I've paid a lot more attention to what her tissue tells me, as she's one of those clients who doesn't seem to like to give "negative" feedback.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin W. Nalley on April 22, 2010 at 10:08am

During a Health Fair last year, I came across a woman who suffered from Fibromyalgia... And suffer she did. I performed Myofascial Release on her upper shoulders and neck (seated massage) and released quite a few restrictions - so much so, that her muscles started reacting to the release with twitches. She couldn't stop laughing because her shoulders hadn't moved in that way in years. Another of my Fibro clients does a "release" once a month, on top of her weekly sessions, where she benefits greatly from deep work - something I've found that many Fibro sufferers cannot have. I definitely agree with Ty, this disorder is so individualized that there really is no way to define a single type of treatment. There is such a broad array of modalities at our disposal, all of which can help Fibro.

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Murgo on May 14, 2010 at 11:55am

Thank you everyone for the great feedback.

Have a wonderful day & weekend!

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Permalink Reply by Bethany Reed on May 31, 2010 at 10:05am

My mother was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia many years ago, but only payed attention to the diagnosis when it was reiterated a couple years ago. There are days she can only stand a "mild" massage, others she can tolerate major work. But so far, according to her, massage has been the only "real" relief she's felt.

Another client prefers the massage to hurt a little bit during, but then after she feels so much better, and you can just see it in her face & her gait.

On the other hand though, I have one particular client who was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, but I personally don't put much weight on that particular diagnosis. Don't get me wrong, I agree she's in discomfort, but she has a terrible time relaxing it seems. I think her pain stems more from sitting at a desk/phone/computer all day and fighting to not relax.

With Fibromyalgia it's a crap-shoot whether they can take pressure or not, whether they will get relief or not, or whether they truly have Fibro or were just diagnosed by a doctor who just wanted to get them out the door.

I hope this helped.

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Permalink Reply by Connie L. Bowden RN,LMT,CCH,BSNH on July 2, 2010 at 2:02pm

Have you gone to and/or signed up with The National Fibromyalgia Association? The website is: www.fmaware.org and they have a wonderful site for professionals in addition to patients. They are very helpful and supportive of all efforts to help deal with this not-so-fun diagnosis.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Maria Brinza on July 5, 2010 at 11:44pm

In the late 80's early 90's I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. After massages 3 days a week for months I eventually got off the anti inflammatory and pain killers. I then began massage and energy work twice a month then once a month then every 6-8 weeks. I know longer have any symptoms and my life is again my own.

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Permalink Reply by Mieka Davis atc,cmt on July 17, 2010 at 8:56pm

I have 5 clients with Fibro currently. I find that mixing energy meridian work(light effleurage) into myofascial release is the most potent calming- pain freeing technique for all of them. Also thinking that they are a layered emotional and nerve tissued being, I try to integrate swedish strokes with moderate deep pressure and then NMT which acts like a contrast of heat and cooling effect on the tissue/nerves. These two types of massage at 45 minutes each, alternating weekly and adding a full polarity session (when they are really talkative,) every third week works quite well, and I've noticed a long term positive effect on all 5 clients. When I first started working with them, a few requested deep trigger point work but it always resulted in negative next day syndrome(tired, unmotivated and in mild-moderate pain.) After discussing their expectations- they all had that idea that massage was supposed to hurt to work. So I stopped doing trigger point work on them. Now if I found a trigger point it's usually a couple of small ones along a meridian or around a joint, such as scapula area, so I do more passive joint range of motion or holding at the beginning or end points of the meridian and light touch over the trigger,(or a cold stone). Hope you try it on your clients!