The physiotherapeutic therapy concept of fibromyalgia

Note

This topic is the continuation of our topic fibromyalgia.

Physiotherapeutic therapy concept

  • Information
  • Extensive survey of findings
  • Passive treatment
  • Active therapy
  • Ev. group offers

Information

At the beginning of the treatment, a detailed information talk about the clinical picture and the course of the physiotherapeutic treatment should take place in order to inform the patient about connections and behavioral patterns and to take away his fear of the treatment. Since in fibromyalgia, in addition to the physical complaints, the psychological situation of the patient also plays an important role, the establishment of a relationship of trust between patient and therapist plays an important role. The success of the treatment depends essentially on the patient feeling personally addressed and having the feeling that the treatment is individually tailored to his or her symptoms and that his or her pain and problems are really taken seriously.

Interdisciplinary cooperation between the physiotherapist, doctor and psychotherapist is very important (see multimodal treatment concept). Without an accompanying drug treatment (chronic pain pattern), physiotherapeutic physiotherapy cannot achieve sufficient pain relief, which is, however, a prerequisite for active therapy. Additional information aids such as recommended literature, information events and self-help groups are useful.

The training of the physiotherapist in the treatment of chronic pain is therefore a prerequisite for good treatment. For the reasons mentioned above, it is therefore advisable to avoid changing therapists as far as possible. Since patients are often afraid of pain and movement, physiotherapeutic treatment should have an increasingly demanding tendency with regard to physical activity after an individually ascertained finding and cautious treatment start with pain-relieving and relaxing measures.

In this way, the patient, who is often accustomed to being gentle and inactive, can experience that, despite his or her pain, he or she is able to perform physical activities despite a hopefully decreasing pain tendency. A slowly increasing load demand can be crowned with success to such an extent that moderate strength training is possible. In most cases, an increase in performance in everyday life and at work and a significant increase in quality of life can be achieved. If increasing physical activity causes more pain (this can happen because the patient’s ability to cope with stress – often fluctuating and dependent on the form of the day – is assessed) and therefore the individual dosage is difficult, the stress requirements should be reduced and tackled again at a lower level. The patient must be informed in advance about the possibility of an increase in pain when training is overstrained, so that he does not lose courage and fall back into his old exercise habits.