Fibromyalgia: Simple Relief through Movement (Paperback)

by Stacie L. Bigelow (Author) "If you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, you have probably been told repeatedly to exercise..." (more)
Key Phrases: getting restorative sleep, muscle conditioning, people with fibromyalgia, Collage Video (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This caring and knowledgeable guide can

help you feel better—starting now

Fibromyalgia causes muscle stiffness and pain, debilitating fatigue, and numerous other symptoms. Most frustrating of all, people with fibromyalgia syndrome don’t look sick; standard tests for injury or chemical imbalances often show nothing wrong. But if you suffer from fibromyalgia, you know that your disease is real, and so is your pain. It’s natural to feel discouraged—but don’t give up! In Fibromyalgia: Simple Relief through Movement, Stacie L. Bigelow—a motivational health counselor and FMS sufferer herself—gives hope to everyone with fibromyalgia with a simple program designed to help you benefit from the one thing that is known to help: movement.

"The most important key to managing muscles affected by fibromyalgia," writes Bigelow, "is to keep them moving." Drawing on new medical understanding of fibromyalgia as well as her patients’ and her own experiences, she explains what the disease is and how to implement an effective plan. She shows you:

• Why traditional exercise programs are not for you
• Which activities will reduce your pain—and which might increase it
• How to balance your daily needs for healing rest and movement
• How (and whether) to use muscle conditioning to decrease pain
• How to stretch properly to reduce pain
• How to communicate your needs to family members, coworkers, and health care providers

Presenting clear and specific advice on how to use movement safely and effectively to ease the pain of fibromyalgia, this caring, knowledgeable guide will give you an optimistic new mind-set about your pain, your body, and your future.

From the Back Cover
This caring and knowledgeable guide can

help you feel better—starting now

Fibromyalgia causes muscle stiffness and pain, debilitating fatigue, and numerous other symptoms. Most frustrating of all, people with fibromyalgia syndrome don’t look sick; standard tests for injury or chemical imbalances often show nothing wrong. But if you suffer from fibromyalgia, you know that your disease is real, and so is your pain. It’s natural to feel discouraged—but don’t give up! In Fibromyalgia: Simple Relief through Movement, Stacie L. Bigelow—a motivational health counselor and FMS sufferer herself—gives hope to everyone with fibromyalgia with a simple program designed to help you benefit from the one thing that is known to help: movement.

"The most important key to managing muscles affected by fibromyalgia," writes Bigelow, "is to keep them moving." Drawing on new medical understanding of fibromyalgia as well as her patients’ and her own experiences, she explains what the disease is and how to implement an effective plan. She shows you:

• Why traditional exercise programs are not for you
• Which activities will reduce your pain—and which might increase it
• How to balance your daily needs for healing rest and movement
• How (and whether) to use muscle conditioning to decrease pain
• How to stretch properly to reduce pain
• How to communicate your needs to family members, coworkers, and health care providers

Presenting clear and specific advice on how to use movement safely and effectively to ease the pain of fibromyalgia, this caring, knowledgeable guide will give you an optimistic new mind-set about your pain, your body, and your future.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (May 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471348023
• ISBN-13: 978-0471348023
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,104 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #9 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Diets & Weight Loss > Special Conditions > Arthritis
  #52 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Disorders & Diseases > Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fibromyalgia, Simple Relief Through Movement, August 3, 2000

By A Customer

This book has some very practical and safe exercises for persons with chronic pain. It offers sound advice that can be carried out at home without expense. This disease is very debilitating and some of the exercise programs that we try to enforce in this culture certainly are ill advised. Ms. Bigelow offers very good suggestions to the patient.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fibromyalgia - Movement vs Exercise, May 11, 2001

By	Claudia Maheux (LaSalle, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

An excellent book on how to exercise if you suffer from Fibromyalgia. Offers specific strategies to reduce pain with a careful, gradual approach to movement & then exercise. Explains which movements & excercises to avoid, which one to try, how to deal with flare-ups, etc. I should have read this book years ago - it would have spared me a lot of pain (& weight gain). If you have Fibromyalgia, you MUST read this book.

65 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars perpetuating the myth, June 10, 2002

By	Nina (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This book is one of the worst "self-help" books I have ever read concerning fibromyalgia. I was very dissapointed, hoping to find desciptions of specific exercises and stretches that would help ease the pain of fibromyalgia. Instead I find a book that perpetuates the myth that all fibromyalgia sufferers are simply lazy. This book suggests that all of us in pain need only to get off our lazy rear-ends, take our antidepressants, and that will cure us. It is a dangerously simplistic book that advises that the best perscription for fibro patients is to stay on your feet all day, on the move, and take your Dr.s prescribed antidepressants to help you sleep at night. The obsesrvations in this book are incredably shallow and simple-minded, comparing muscles to cement that will become set and hard if they sit still too long, and completely ignoring the new research that descibes fibromyalgia as a neurohormonal disorder, an exaggerated response of the CNS. I feel very sorry for people with fibromyalgia who actually believe this nonsense, try their best to follow the instructions and then feel inadequate when they don't experience the desired results. DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! Instead get:"Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Survival Manual" By Devin Starlanyl, M.D. and Mary Ellen Copeland, M.S.,M.A., and "Alternative Treatments for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" by Mari Skelly and Andrea Holm. These books will give you information that is useful and pertinant. Thanks to the folks at Amazon for making this information exchange possible. Good luck to all of you people in pain, I hope you find something to help!