Hydrotherapy for Fibromyalgia Sufferers

The illness (or non-illness according to some) called fibromyalgia has been getting a lot more coverage in the media lately. It seems like conventional medicine is teetering on the fence regarding fibro. Some still insist it does not truly exist and does not deserve the title of a disease. Others are recognizing it, but unfortunately recommending treatments such as drugs, including addictive pain killers and antidepressants. The FDA has also recently approved the first medication that may be specifically prescribed for treating the condition. So, I guess now fibro will get recognition since we have a drug to treat it. No drug = No disease, at least that is the track record.

Alternative therapies have long been the mainstay for many fibro patients, and this article gives encouraging evidence that swimming, especially in warm water, can be very beneficial at battling fibromyalgia. Researchers believe fibro can be brought on by habitually poor lifestyle choices and stressful situations, among other factors. We are also finding that many people with fibromyalgia also test positive for Lyme disease. The most important aspect is for sufferers to learn how to change their way of life so that balance can be restored and so that the body can work on repair and healing. One thing is for sure, that will not be effectively accomplished through the use of toxic drugs that mask symptoms and possibly worsen the overall health of the body.


Swimming eases fibromyalgia pain, study says
An hour workout 3 times a week soothed symptoms of the mystery ailment
Reuters
updated 6:41 p.m. CT, Thurs., Feb. 21, 2008

LONDON - Swimming can significantly ease the debilitating pain of fibromyalgia, an ailment with no known cure, European researchers said on Friday.

The condition mainly strikes women and can cause severe pain and tenderness in muscles, ligaments and tendons. Shoulder and neck pain is common but some people with the condition also have problems sleeping, and suffer anxiety and depression.

In their study of 33 women, the researchers had one group exercise in warm water for more than an hour three times a week for eight months while the others did no aquatic training.

The women who swam said the workouts helped ease their pain and they reported an improved quality of life, said Narcis Gusi at the University of Extremadura in Spain and Pablo Tomas-Carus of the University of Evora in Portugal, who conducted the study.

The addition of an aquatic exercise program to the usual care for fibromyalgia in women is cost-effective in terms of both health care costs and societal costs, they wrote in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Doctors usually prescribe exercise and relaxation techniques, painkillers or sometimes a low-dose antidepressant to treat the symptoms.

Pregabalin, a drug that calms nerve cells, gained U.S. regulatory approval in June to treat the condition. It is sold as Lyrica by Pfizer Inc.

In November, U.S. researchers showed that women who participated in a physical training regimen said they had less pain, better physical functioning and vitality.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23284116