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Set expectations honestly
Chiropractic care does not treat fibromyalgia itself and it does not cure it. What it may be aimed at is the musculoskeletal pain and restricted movement that sit alongside it.
Health conditions · Fibromyalgia
Widespread painwith no single source.
Fibromyalgia is a difficult condition to have and a difficult condition to be believed about. We are not going to oversell what chiropractic care can do for it.
Widespread — joints, muscles, tendons and soft tissue. Fibromyalgia does not live at one level. That is what makes it hard.
What fibromyalgia actually is
Patient education — general information about the condition, not medical advice about your body. Only an examination can tell you what is going on with yours.
Fibromyalgia syndrome causes widespread musculoskeletal pain — in the joints, muscles, tendons and other soft tissue, all over the body. It commonly travels with other things: TMJ disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, depression, anxiety, cognitive difficulty and disrupted sleep. It affects roughly three to five percent of the American population, predominantly women.
There is no lab test for it. Diagnosis is made on the basis of widespread pain lasting more than three months with no underlying medical condition to account for it, and getting to that point is often a long and frustrating road. Being told there is nothing wrong when there is very obviously something wrong is part of the experience for a lot of people.
The cause is not known. The current thinking involves several factors together — genetics, infections, and physical or emotional trauma and stress. Anyone who tells you they know exactly what caused your fibromyalgia, and exactly how to fix it, is telling you something the evidence does not support.
How it shows up.
Does this sound like you?
Tick what you actually feel.
Not a diagnosis, and not a test — nothing here can tell you what you have. It is a list you can take with you, because everybody forgets half of it the moment a doctor walks into the room.
0 things to mention. However many you ticked, the exam is what tells you anything.
What tends to be behind it
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Not known
This is the honest headline. Medical professionals cannot pinpoint the cause of the disorder.
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Genetics
Believed to be one of the contributing factors.
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Infections
Also implicated as a possible contributor.
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Physical or emotional trauma and stress
A third contributing factor in the current thinking.
How care approaches it
What Dr. Meansactually does about it.
Written as aims, not outcomes — because that is all anyone can honestly promise you before they have examined you.
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Gentle, and adjusted to you
Fibromyalgia patients are frequently sensitive to pressure. Care has to be dialled to what your body will actually tolerate, and that is a conversation, not a protocol.
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Range of motion
Studies have looked at chiropractic management of fibromyalgia and at measures such as cervical and lumbar range of motion. Improving how you move is a reasonable aim. Curing the syndrome is not.
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Care as one part of a bigger plan
Fibromyalgia is best managed across several fronts — sleep, graded exercise, stress, medical care. Chiropractic care is one part of that, not a replacement for the rest of it.
Chiropractic care is not a cure for any condition on this page, and no honest clinic will promise you one. What Dr. Means can do is examine you, tell you plainly whether this is something chiropractic care is suited to help with, and refer you elsewhere if it isn't.
If you come in
Here is what actually happens.
Step 01
Free consultation
Call or book online and we'll sit down with you at no cost or obligation. Tell us what's going on and we'll start building the picture.
Read this part
When this is not a chiropractic problem.
Some of what looks like fibromyalgia is something else, and some of it is urgent. A clinic that only ever tells you it can help is not being straight with you. If any of the following is true, do not book a chiropractic appointment — get medical care.
- New symptoms that do not fit your usual pattern — do not assume everything is the fibromyalgia.
- Fever, unexplained weight loss, or night sweats.
- Joints that are visibly swollen, hot and red.
- New weakness, numbness, or loss of coordination.
This page is general health information, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for examination by a qualified provider. In an emergency call 911. See our healthcare disclaimer.
Fibromyalgia, honestly answered.
Including the questions where the answer is no.
Can chiropractic care cure fibromyalgia?
No. Nothing currently cures fibromyalgia. Care may be aimed at the musculoskeletal pain and the restricted movement that come with it.
Will adjustments hurt?
They should not. Fibromyalgia often comes with real sensitivity to pressure, and care needs to be adapted to that. Tell Dr. Means. It changes what he does.
Should I still exercise?
Graded, gentle exercise is generally part of managing fibromyalgia — but it needs to be built up carefully, and pushing too hard tends to backfire. Talk to your doctor about the right starting point.
Is this all in my head?
No. Fibromyalgia is a real disorder with real, documented symptoms. Being unable to find it on a blood test is not the same thing as it not being there.
Often connected
Not sure if this is what you have?
That is what the consultation is for — and it costs you nothing to find out. If it turns out Dr. Means is not the right person for it, he will tell you that too.