Chances are that you or someone you know has been diagnosed with a mysterious condition called fibromyalgia. This can be a confusing condition due to its vague set of symptoms. Due to this vague set of symptoms, management of this condition can be very difficult which leads people on a long quest to find relief. This quest for relief can take you down paths to all sorts of treatment options - with probably varying results. Some recent research has shown that laser therapy can provide relief to fibromyalgia patients who struggle with conventional treatment options. Let’s talk about what fibromyalgia is, how Class IV laser therapy can treat the pain, and why you should consider combining laser therapy and chiropractic care.
Do I have fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is characterized by certain predictable tender points across the body. The most common tender points are found at the lower front of the neck, edge of upper chest, arm near the elbow, knee, base of the skull, hips, outer buttock, back of the neck, and back of the shoulders. The criteria for diagnosing fibromyalgia has changed but these are historically the accepted “tender points”. Chronic symptoms can include, sleep difficulties, fatigue, not feeling refreshed in the morning after sleeping, anxiety, depression, and cognitive issues labeled “fibro fog”.
Why does it hurt all the time?
To understand why patients with fibromyalgia are always in pain, we first need a simple understanding of how nerves transmit pain to the brain. The body requires a certain amount of stimulation before a pain signal is sent to the brain. In fibromyalgia, the threshold of how much stimulation elicits that signal is decreased significantly. This means that gentle pressure or even lightly brushing the area can register as a painful experience to the body. With the body being more sensitive to any and all stimuli, it’s no wonder that fibromyalgia patients are constantly in pain.
How laser therapy can help!
Recent research from 2018 suggests that therapeutic lasers may be a possible treatment option for fibromyalgia patients. High-powered lasers can actually reset the pain threshold of the affected area by changing the biochemistry of nerves at a cellular level. The sensitivity of these nerves primarily comes down to an imbalance of sodium and calcium; when these levels are off, the nerve can fire off pain signals with little to no cause. Photobiomodulation from laser therapy stimulates receptors on the nerves which balance out the sodium and calcium ions which essentially resets the sensitivity of the nerves! With the nerves being less sensitive, they will be less likely to transmit pain signals to non-painful stimuli.
A combination of chiropractic care and laser therapy is one of the most powerful tools currently available for fibromyalgia pain. The pain experienced by patients with this condition can be amplified by joint restrictions or tight muscles. Any minor restriction that changes the natural biomechanics of the body, especially if they are close to the “tender points” that we talked about earlier, can trigger the sensitive areas. Chiropractic adjustments help restore the natural mobility of restricted joints and reduce any pain or stiffness that is being amplified by fibromyalgia. Combining both chiropractic adjustments and laser therapy can have you feeling relief in no time! In patients who have tried everything under the sun to manage their fibromyalgia, this breakthrough treatment can feel like a miracle!
If you have fibromyalgia and are struggling to keep the pain under control, schedule an appointment with your Rochester chiropractor. At Rush-Henrietta Family Chiropractic, our chiropractor in Rochester has been working with fibromyalgia patients using Class IV laser therapy and chiropractic adjustments to relieve previously uncontrolled pain. Schedule an appointment today and see what Class IV laser therapy can do for your fibromyalgia pain!
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