HEALTH FEATURE

An affliction called fibromyalgia

The holistic approach to its diagnosis and treatment by Dr Richa Singh of Perfect Bounce

BY SMITI JAIN NARAYAN

Dr Richa Singh, a leading exponent of physiotherapy and a well-known authority on non-surgical solutions for many health ailments, throws light in this feature on a relatively lesser known condition called fibromyalgia and the treatment protocol needed for it.

Fibromyalgia is a fairly common chronic pain illness, but is little understood by most of the people suffering from it. It starts as a “touch pain”, with hyper sensitivity to touch in a particular part of the body and can slowly spread to other parts and takes over the whole body where a patient would be in constant pain, starting from mild to moderate and going on to become chronic.

The common mistake that people make is to put it down to muscle pain but fibromyalgia is more pervasive and can be traced to neurological cum orthopaedic issues. The first step to dealing with it is correct prognosis and diagnosis.

“The management of fibromyalgia involves a combination of pain management,

treatment of the condition through physiotherapy, dry needling and other therapies, medication, as well as lifestyle management and counselling, all depending on the patient’s individual state which has to be customised on a case to case basis,” explains Dr Richa Singh.

The biggest challenge today is lack of awareness of fibromyalgia in India because of which people go undiagnosed. There are 6 million fibromyalgia patients in the USA. So, it is common in developed and developing countries and has been found to affect people across all socioeconomic strata. Women seem to be more prone to it but attribute it to muscular or psychosomatic pains, depression and decreasing productivity. Emotional and hormonal imbalances or post-delivery issues can also be factors.

So the first step is awareness, then diagnosis and then the line of treatment. Recovery can be up to 100% depending on whether it is moderate or chronic. Patient’s lifestyle changes, environmental factors and their own will power also helps in best results. History of the patient needs to be clearly noted by the competent authority for ascertaining aggravating factors, emotional imbalances and depression before a treatment path is chalked out.

Treatment includes a combination of muscle relaxants, anti-depressives, exercise, pain management, chiropractic treatments, physiotherapy protocols, anti-inflammatory diets – all these need to be fine-tuned to each individual’s case. Counselling, as well as food, lifestyle and mindset changes are needed with close follow-ups.

If in doubt, reach out for Dr Richa Singh of Perfect Bounce, to beat fibromyalgia and bounce back to health and life!

SERVICES  Chronic Pain Management  Sports and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation  Sports Massage/ Deep Tissue Massage  Post Surgery Rehabilitation  Weight Loss Program  Gait Analysis PERFECT BOUNCE HEALTHCARE PVT LTD # 11/A, 3rd Floor, Outer Ring Road, Sector 6, HSR Layout; Mob: +91 95135-15111 I Timing : 6am to 11pm Email: contact@perfectbounce.in Website: www.perfectbounce.in