Fibromyalgia – Part 1 - Health Plus Digest

Fibromyalgia is a chronic medical condition that was once thought to be purely psychological in nature. Today physicians know that it has a basis in the physical that is exacerbated by psychological stress. It is characterized by wide spread pain in the ligaments and tendons. Fibromyalgia also causes fatigue and multiple tender points. These are places on the body where even a slight amount of pressure will cause pain. (1)

There are 18 different trigger points or tender sites used in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. These sites cluster around the neck, shoulder, chest, hip, knee and elbow regions. During an examination the physician applies as much pressure as what would be required to cause a finger nail bed to blanch, or start to become white. Others have found over 75 different tender points but these are not used for diagnostic purposes. They do however cause individuals pain and discomfort.

The slight amount of pressure required to initiate pain points to the fact that these tender points are not deep areas but instead superficial, seemingly directly under the surface of the skin. The actual size is also usually very small. The cause of the pressure points are not known and while it would seem that inflammation is a part of the problem, researchers and physicians have not found signs of inflammation when the tissue has been examined.

Many other chronic pain illnesses will have the same symptoms that overlap with fibromyalgia so in 1990 the American College of Rheumatology published a multi-center study which evaluated a total of 558 different patients. Approximately half were classified as controls who were actually age, sex and pain matched individuals with known problems associated with neck pain, low back pain, tendinitis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus and other painful disorders.

References:

(1) Fibromyalgia Network: Diagnosis

http://www.fmnetnews.com/fibro-basics/diagnosis

(2) American College of Rheumatology: The American College of Rheumatology Preliminary Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia and Measurement of Symptom Severity

http://www.rheumatology.org/practice/clinical/classification/fibromyalgia/2010_Preliminary_Diagnostic_Criteria.pdf

(3) MayoClinic: Fibromyalgia

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/ds00079/dsection=symptoms

(4) American Family Physician: Treating Fibromyalgia

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2000/1001/p1575.html