Fibromyalgia

Massage is an ancient healing art that has been practiced in every culture. Captain Cook once described how his back pain was successfully treated with massage by the native people of Hawaii during his stay in the islands.

Massage has evolved and taken many paths and continues to evolve during these modern times. With so many names and philosophies, how does a client know which is the right kind of massage for them? And how does the therapist know what is the right kind of massage for the client? Sports massage, Swedish massage, Russian massage, acupressure, deep tissue massage . . . there are so many different kinds of massage. I'll discuss some general categories in another article but for now I want to talk specifically about what I mean when I say that the right kind of massage can be very effective, while the wrong kind of massage will, at the very least, be ineffective and, at worst, cause symptoms to worsen.

Russian Massage is unique in that it is a system of massage entirely based on physiology. Developed in the former Soviet Union as a medical massage, sports massage, and part of their physical therapy, it is supported by over 150 years of serious scientific research. What this means is that they have investigated the various strokes and examined exactly what physiological changes each of these strokes, when done in various ways, produces in the body.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a poorly understood chronic pain condition that primarily afflicts women. Patients with fibromyalgia complain that they feel fatigued and ache all over as if they have the flu. They are generally otherwise healthy women and there seems no obvious reason for their pain. Many were very productive before they became afflicted. Symptoms can range from mild to severe but will persist for years. There is no known cause and there is no known cure.