Simple Steps Fibromyalgia Sufferers Can Do For Back Pain

People suffering from Fibromyalgia know that back pain is one of the major symptoms that can disrupt your life and cause a lot of suffering. Targeting upper back pain can be difficult but you can find relief through some simple tips that target this specific area and help relieve the aching and suffering. Suffering from back pain can make even the little things in life difficult, like sitting in one position. Sore backs can cause different problems such as fatigue, soreness, frustration, and depression. Let's take a look at some steps you can take to ease your upper back pain.

Your back is made up of a mesh of muscles that support your spine and give alignment to your spine. This is what allows the flexibility of your body to move, bend, sit up, rollover, etc. You get the idea. These muscles are the most important role in our ability to balance, have good posture, etc. They also play an important role with other nearby muscles that have the connections to pain receptors in our brain. As a sufferer of fibromyalgia, you may already know that fibromyalgia is characterized by overactive pain processing. This is a big factor in chronic pain conditions. So how does this affect the back?

Understanding the pain process along the spine will help us understand and choose certain treatments or lifestyle changes that will be the most effective for you. The more pain that you have and the longer you have had it affects these muscles in the spine and weakens them. This causes more pain!

So what do you do about it? Exercise is one option. You'll need to decide with a healthcare specialist if this is right for you. You will want to start an exercise program that can be consistent and one that fits with your type of pain. Talk with a physical therapist or chiropractor if you want to get specific back exercises and stretches that can help you target the muscles in the back. This will help you increase their strength and help you to improve your posture, balance, pain, etc.

Heat can be a great source of relief from chronic back pain as well. If you have fibromyalgia, you have probably made really good friends with your heating pad by now. If not, you should! Also, a warm bath at night and in the morning can help you to ease your pain and relax your muscles. At night, this bath will help sooth you and prepare you for rest, allowing the healing time of sleep to take over. In the morning, a warm bath can help loosen stiff backs and provide you with the mental get up you sometimes need in the morning to be able to go about your day. There are also products on the market that help with heat therapy that you can wear on your back for hours at a time. These can be very beneficial.

Another factor to consider when dealing with back pain issues is what type of bed you are using. Some people tend to forget that the bed plays a key role in your sleep patterns and fatigue, which can lead to chronic back pain.

You may want to take a long look at your bed and see if it is the best for your type of pain. Along with the bed, if you are working long hours in a chair, have that looked into as well. You want a chair that provides great support to your back and spine. Make sure that it is adjusted to your height and frame to provide the maximum benefits.

There are other techniques that you can look into to help relieve your back pain. There has been great proven success with acupuncture. Studies have shown that fibromyalgia sufferers have experienced great relief of their pain through this technique. You may also want to consider acupressure if you are scared of the needles with acupuncture.

Therapy may be a helpful tool to you if you are extremely depressed due to the chronic back pain. There is hope and there are effective treatments out there. You don't have to resign yourself to a life full of pain and frustration. Although the process may take awhile, never give up.

Talking to your doctor may help you find the treatment that is best for you and your back pain. Your doctor will likely give you advice on medication as well as helping you know if these alternative therapies may assist in your recovery. Combining these treatments may help you speed your recovery along.

Copyright (c) 2007 Hailey Harris

Hailey Harris is an expert in dealing with Fibromyalgia after suffering for more than 8 years with health problems. She is now symptom free and living a pain free life. She developed Ridfibromyalgia.com found at http://www.ridfibromyalgia.com to help others learn to do the same. To receive tons of info, tips, and healing strategies for free visit http://www.ridfibromyalgia.com/how.html .

Three Simple Questions To Know What's Going On Inside Your Own Head

You read, see, and hear these types of headlines all the time:

• "Get Ripped Abs Fast!"
• "Increase Your Bench In 3 Weeks!"
• "Lose 50 Pounds With XYZ Supplement!"
• "Be Chiseled For Summer!"
• "Get Buff By Buying This Program!"
• "Drop Those Last 10 Pounds!"
• "Gain Those 10 Pounds And Get The Woman Of Your Dreams!"
• Etc.

They are not only in the bodybuilding and physique advertisements, but they appear on television, radio, the internet, billboards, and magazines of all types. In addition, you may hear comments from your friends & family saying, "If only I could lose those last stubborn 10 pounds," or, "I hate being so skinny!" Most people are probably exposed to comments of this type at least once per day if they live or interact in an urban or suburban environment.

I have had the opportunity to study many of the "mind disciplines" such as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), hypnosis, sports psychology, the basics of quantum physics (ok... the VERY basics!), and a few other areas of similar study. The thing is that most of them have commonalities, or "overlap" in them. Personally, I find this to be terrific!! If the latest studies of the human mind - with the most intricate machines & research studies - happen to share commonalities with examples we see in everyday life then we can begin to take heart knowing that there might be something to those commonalities. It would be as if you & your friends all had a different type of compass, yet each one pointed to "North" in the same direction; you then can make an agreement for what all of you consider to be "North."

One "commonality" among all of these disciplines is that there is usually a much deeper motivation that is going on in your head when you set goals or make other declarations about your identity, particularly about your own body. The types of headlines listed earlier may sell you features, benefits, or both; however they usually fail to trigger what is REALLY going on inside your head! Here is an example:

If you say, "I want to drop those last 10 pounds before the upcoming X (wedding, high school reunion, company pool party, etc.)" you now can ask yourself a few questions to find out your TRUE motivation:

1) When I think about XYZ (dropping those last 10 pounds, increasing my bench press by 20 pounds, etc.), what is important to me?

2) How is the answer from # 1 important to me?

3) What will the answer for # 2 do for me?

Here is an example:

1) When I think about dropping those last 10 pounds before the upcoming company pool party, what is important to me?

Example answer: "I want to look good."

2) How is looking good (answer from # 1) important to me?

Example answer: "So I won't look gross to people."

[** SIDE NOTE** A lot of people are motivated by what they "won't be" or "don't want to have." This is a different type of motivation than what you DO want or what you WANT to achieve. This is discussed in the Metroflex Gym e-book and will be a topic for a future newsletter]

3) What will not looking gross to people (answer from # 2) do for me?

Example answer: "I finally get to feel attractive around people I know."

So the "core emotion", in this example, is for you to feel attractive around people you know. Once you have that core emotion (also known as a "deep-seated need") identified, ask yourself the best ways you can meet this need. It could be:

• I am going to update my wardrobe
• I am going to get my teeth fixed
• I will get a good book on exercise from a reputable source
• I will be around more uplifting & positive people
• I will go on that interview to get a new job, earn more money, and start to feel "alive again"
• Etc.

No matter what your specific situation is, make sure that you ask yourself those three questions and quickly get to the heart of what is really going on in your own head. It will save you TONS of time, money, and energy! Many people will find that their "sticking points" or "plateaus" come from never addressing what is REALLY going on inside their own heads.... and all they need to do is ask three simple questions!

If you found this article to be useful and relevant, you are welcome to visit MetroflexGymTraining.com to get weight training & exercise information which simply works! You may also get the information by going to the following websites if they are easier for you to remember:

GetInShapeQuick.com GreatBiceps.com

You are invited to join the Metroflex Gym Newsletter and download free reports, training logs, and receive special unannounced bonuses!