A few folks with fibromyalgia have come to me for bodywork. Fibromyalgia, if you don’t know, is a condition of chronic pain with tender points located in various places on the body.

There’s a lot of mystery about it. It used to be thought by doctors to be “all in the head” (which basically means they don’t know, so it must exist just in your mind), but we know better now. A couple of years ago, scientists pinpointed the cause.

In my bodyworker role, I’ve noticed that some fibromyalgia sufferers prefer very light touch, while others prefer medium pressure and don’t mind, in fact prefer it, if I do deep tissue work in the tensest, tightest places, such as the upper trapezius.

If you suffer from fibromyalgia or know someone who does, please click this link to read a report that consolidates research on effective treatments. The report includes results of experiments using aerobic exercise, acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal medicine, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, medication, osteopathy, supplementation, and vibrational therapy to treat fibro.

Fibromyalgia sufferers should be able to find some new options for pain relief.

Thanks to my instructor Jan Hutchinson, PT, LMT, for mentioning this article today in the Advanced Program at The Lauterstein-Conway School of Massage.

Also, I’d like to note that this study did not include any research on the role of diet in relieving the pain of fibromyalgia, but one of my friends/bodywork clients who has fibromyalgia reports that going gluten-free and corn-free resulted in a reduction of her pain, IBS symptoms, and UTIs, as well as weight loss.

She especially noticed that cutting out high fructose corn syrup stopped a lot of the inflammation and burning feeling in her muscles and joints.

She used Dr. Peter D’Adamo’s book The Genotype Diet to identify which foods to avoid.

It seems very possible that there is a connection between diet and fibromyalgia symptoms. If you know more about this, please comment!