In a new study published in “The Pain Journal”, it was determined that in people diagnosed with fibromyalgia there is a “positive relationships between physical activity and responses to pain observed in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and posterior insula, regions implicated in pain regulation”.1 This is one of many recent studies that continues to suggest differences in areas of the brain that regulate pain among those with fibromyalgia.
Another notable finding: “negative relationships were found for primary sensory and superior parietal cortices, regions implicated in sensory aspects of pain”.1 This suggests that the pain in fibromyalgia is not your sensation, or stimulation of sensation, but rather the ability of the regions in your brain to down-regulate and control the over expression of incoming pain and sensory signals in your brain.
Also noted in the study: “greater physical activity was significantly associated with decreased pain ratings to repeated heat stimuli for FM patients”.1 This suggests that with an appropriate increase in activity, you have a better chance of controlling your pain, and appropriate is the key word. I have seen far to many FM patients put on exercise programs that made them much worse. This is because you have to start at an appropriate level of activity, with an exercise that doesn’t make you worse.
Another notable finding: “Brain responses to pain significantly different between FM patients categorized as low active and those categorized as high active”.1 It appears that the more activity you can tolerate, the better you regulation of pain response, or the less perceived pain. For this exact reason, and because exercise has a host of benefits we use exercise with all FM patients.
“Our data suggest that brain responses to pain represent a dynamic process where perception and modulation co-occur and that physical activity plays a role in balancing these processes. Physically active FM patients appear to maintain their ability to modulate pain while those who are less active do not”. 1 This is a powerful statement that I agree with. I have seen in clinical practice that movement improves pain, and increased physical activity over several months will dramatically improve fibromyalgia in many patients, but again, the key is appropriate exercise! We use exercise with oxygen therapy in combination with functional medicine to further improve clinical results, and it has worked very well for those that make the 6-12 months time commitment required to make lasting changes.
I am currently working on case studies of patients that I have worked with using exercise, functional medicine, spinal manipulation, and exercise with oxygen therapy to treat their FM, and I will post them once completed.
This is great research and we are lucky to have people willing to do this work, so that we can better understand ourselves.
1. McLoughlin MJ, Stegner AJ, Cook DB. The Relationship between Physical Activity and Brain Responses to Pain in Fibromyalgia. J Pain. 2011 Feb 16.
