Fibromyalgia and Rolfing

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Releasing Stress Heals Fibromyalgia

Do you have ongoing, non-specific pain? Is this pain worse when you’re tired or stressed? If you answered yes, you may be suffering from Fibromyalgia.

If you google stress and Fibromyalgia, you’ll see that Fibromyalgia is a hot topic. For my Stressed Out blog, I wrote a post explaining Fibromyalgia and its relationship to stress. It’s the most-read post on that blog.

For years, I have told my clients that, as a culture, we live on the Fibromyalgia continuum. Virtually everyone has some of the symptoms. But the subclinical symptoms may only show up sporadically, when you’ve pushed yourself for several days.

Chronic suffers of Fibromyalgia didn’t just suddenly catch the illness. Fibromyalgia is a condition that developed because the body became run down – not because of an illness that was contracted from being exposed to a pathogen. Years of abuse–stress, working hard, not getting enough rest, and poor nutrition–can manifest as Fibromyalgia.

Exhausted and Hyper

Interestingly, all the diagnosed Fibromyalgia suffers I have seen in my practice are wired and exhausted. Most often, their soft tissue is lacking life; or, as an Oriental medical doc would say, they have low chi. Their deeper soft tissue is tense and fibrous.

Just like depression and Chronic Fatigue, which are closely related to Fibromyalgia, Fibromyalgia clients need to release their deep chronic tension to get well. That deeper layer of soft tissue needs to come back to life. It is as if that layer is blocking the chi and blood circulation from reaching vital organs and the more superficial levels.

The Power of Rolfing

Many of these clients are committed to getting well, and have seen many other good practitioners without getting better. These doctors and healthcare providers, along with the clients, can’t understand why they’re still sick.

To get well you don’t treat the problem, you treat the cause. Once the cause shifts, the problem disappears.

Over the 30 years I have treated people, I’ve had a lot of referrals from excellent practitioners who normally get great results, but weren’t getting anywhere with Fibromyalgia clients. We all learned that without these deep layers of tissue releasing the pent-up stress, other treatments, such as homeopathy and clinical nutrition, don’t get into the tissue. Rolfing releases the tension and teaches the body not to recreate it.

Once the stress, exhaustion and tension releases, all the therapies that weren’t working suddenly start to work better than the norm. These clients often prove to be some of the most successful cases for other practitioners. Rolfing can free the body to allow other therapies to support deep healing and rejuvenation.

Fibromyalgia Is Not a Chronic Disease

With the correct combination of therapies, Fibromyalgia is “curable.” As I mentioned in the post on Stressed Out.org, the medical profession is starting to recognize Fibromyalgia as a real problem: now there’s a drug for it. Of course, the drug company is not promising a cure, just a mitigation of symptoms—they want people to see Fibromyalgia as a chronic condition that requires life-long medication.

In my experience, if a person truly wants to get well from Fibromyalgia, and is willing to step outside of the normal treatment box, they will get well. The road back to wellness will take a while. It will require commitment and a willingness to feel and express old emotions. There will be times when you’ll feel worse – more exhausted and more depressed. You may even have more short-term pain. But hang in there – you will get well.