Physical medicine and rehabilitation approaches to the management of myofascial pain and fibromyalgia syndromes

Abstract

In summary, we have presented the physical medicine and rehabilitation medicine approaches for treating patients with fibromyalgia and the myofascial pain syndromes. The importance of approaching these patients from a holistic and multidisciplinary standpoint has been stressed, paying attention to the physical, emotional, spiritual and behavioural components of the presentation. Although fibromyalgia and the myofascial pain syndromes are two distinct conditions, they often overlap, and when they do the myofascial component should be treated first. However, the clinician should remember that pain, tissue dysfunction and disability from pain are all separate issues and should be treated as such. Treatment in all cases should be individualized and comprehensive. It is imperative to make the patient an active participant in his care and to establish mutually agreed upon goals at the outset of treatment. It is important to establish an adequate and appropriate home exercise programme to supplement formal treatment. A good home exercise programme should stress both stretching and strengthening. Formal treatment programmes should not be geared to pain relief alone but rather to restoration of function, and return to functioning lifestyles. The clinician has available a wide array of modalities and tools to control pain, but the major goal of all treatment programmes is to restore individuals to functional lifestyles and to promote both physical and emotional flexibility, balance and 'wellness'. It is often necessary to involve the family unit as an inherent and critical part of the treatment team, particularly with the patient who continues to be dysfunctional despite apparently appropriate treatment. Although treatment always starts at the tissue level, a good treatment programme must always be holistic in nature and treat the tissues, the patient as a whole, and his or her environmental stressors and contingencies as well.