This topic includes many aspects of physiotherapy
Synonyms in a broader sense
Fibromyalgia, fibrositis, fibromyositis, fibromyalgia syndrome, polytopic insertional tendopathy, generalized tendomyopathy, soft tissue rheumatism, soft tissue rheumatism
Definition
The word fibromyalgia is derived from the Latin fibra = fiber Myo from the Greek myos = muscle Algie from the Greek algos = pain Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disease characterized by a complex symptomatology mainly in the entire locomotor system (muscles and joints) and in the vegetative nervous system. The vegetative nervous system automatically controls vital functions such as heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, digestion and metabolism.
Fibromyalgia: History
The extremely complex and difficult to classify clinical picture has been known since the beginning of the 20th century and was finally described in detail again in the USA in 1990. It is estimated that about 10-12% of the general population is affected, 90% are women. The affected patients suffered and still suffer from a lack of recognition of their generalized complaints, since pain findings are difficult to detect and document with technical diagnostics.
Because the symptoms are so varied, doctors from a wide range of disciplines (especially orthopedics, neurology and internal medicine) are often involved in the medical history up to the time of diagnosis, since the chronically ill patients often engage in so-called doctor-hopping (visiting many different doctors and disciplines) and therefore the various symptoms cannot be viewed holistically. For this reason, it takes on average about 7-8 years until a diagnosis is made. The differentiation from other known rheumatic or psychosomatic clinical pictures is also still difficult.
Only in the last few years, new diagnostic procedures – e.g. PET diagnostics (modern imaging procedure) – have provided insights into the central nervous system and especially into the pain processing systems. Nowadays, it is also possible to detect certain elevated levels of existing pain substances. Since then, the existence of a changed perception of pain by affected patients has become less controversial, so that the recognition of your pain and discomfort has become somewhat easier for those affected, also with regard to possible pension procedures.