This post is aimed at this disease from which more and more people are suffering and whose origin is unknown. In particular, this article seeks to do understand to people who suffer from it that they can play sports or adapt to the sport they love to do and have a normal life without having to think about the pain they might try.
It is also aimed at coaches, so that they know how to deal with the problem of their athletes with awareness.
Index
What is Fibromyalgia?
The word Fibromyalgia means pain in the muscles and fibrous tissue (ligaments and tendons). Fibromyalgia is characterized by a generalized musculoskeletal pain and a painful sensation of pressure on specific points ( "tender points"). This pain looks like that of the joints, but it is not a disease of the joints.
Fibromyalgia is known today as one idiopathic (no known cause) and chronic syndrome of non-articular pain with diffuse tender points. It is usually associated with others symptoms such as tiredness, sleep disturbances, headache, morning stiffness, paraesthesia, anxiety... All this translates into a highly variable disease with a great impact on the quality of life of those who suffer from it.
It is a disease that tends to affect women more than men; the peak age in which it usually appears is from 40 years and older and people who suffer from it tend to have several psychological aspects in common.
Psychological profile
Although his origin is unknown, several studies conclude that it is a psychological disease, even if its symptoms are pain in specific parts of the body.
It is disproportionate to establish a typical profile of a person suffering from this disease, but some personality patterns repeat themselves:
- They are perfectionists, they demand too much of themselves
- They have feelings of guilt due to the false belief that everything depends on them
- They tend to meet the needs of others while neglecting their own
- Low self-esteem
- They have difficulty expressing their feelings so as not to worry others
- They tend to worry too much about their surroundings
- They tend not to ask for favors. They tend to give, but not to receive
- They often go into a state of sadness for no apparent reason
- They tend to be decisive, orderly and leadership oriented, proud and selfless.
Taking these points into account, it is good clarify that having these personality traits does not mean that you have or will have fibromyalgia.
Symptoms of fibromyalgia
To know how plan training sessions or choose exercises suitable for people with fibromyalgia, you need to know the symptoms well of this pathology.
The most important symptoms of this pathology are:
- Generalized weakness, widespread muscle and joint pain. They don't always appear on the same side or with the same intensity
- Frequent stiffness of the soles of the feet
- Sleep disturbances: problems falling asleep and frequent interruptions to sleep during the night.
- Tiredness during the day, one of the consequences of poor night sleep
- Headache
- Numbness and tingling sensation in an extremity and a feeling of swelling (enlargement of an organ)
- Irritable colon
- Irritable bladder
Other characteristic and frequent symptoms are hair loss, sensitivity to light and limb cramps.
Supply
If to improve our sports performance we put ourselves in the hands of specialists who help us with our diet, how can a person suffering from fibromyalgia not do the same?
Starting from the premise that this chronic disease affects the physical and emotional sphere and adding the drug treatment that some people take, a lack of appetite or inappropriate eating behavior are normal.
If the way humans get the energy they need to get through the day is through food, the affected person must monitor your nutrition more specifically than a professional athlete.
In this way, it must take into account the nutrients for the proper functioning of the organism and try to reduce the symptoms.
Taking this information into account, the first thing to do is go to a nutritionist and get advice on the most suitable foods.
Here are some GENERAL advice, to improve the quality of life:
- Significantly increase vegetables and fruits in the diet.
- Avoid large meals.
- Try not to eat processed foods.
- Refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages.
- Ridurre the quantity di caffeine per day.
- Ridurre the quantity di cup sugar per day.
- Moderate your intake protein.
- Eat grilled or baked meats.
- Use extra virgin olive oil.
Taking care of nutrition in this way improves the quality of life, the subjective feeling of well-being, the increase in mobility and flexibility, the reduction of morning stiffness and the reduction of pain in some points of the body at rest and in movement.
Sports adaptation
Although for many people the solution to muscle problems is the use of drugs, we at CrossMAG promote physical activity and good nutrition as a fundamental part of the solution.
Let's say that Crossfit® (but also Functional) they are high intensity disciplines, but in this case it is better to adapt them to low intensity, modifying the exercises from person to person.
Common symptoms, such as muscle and joint pain, cause the person to avoid movement for fear of feeling sick or in pain, and this is a common mistake.
It is necessary think about muscle activation and full-body mobilization to avoid muscle shortening, decreased range of motion, or muscle atrophy.
We also have to think about the circulatory system, so that blood flows normally and supplies our muscles and organs normally.
Exercise can bring great benefits, such as improving sleep or reducing stress.
So how can we adapt sport for a person suffering from this pathology?
It's simpler than it sounds. Like everyone, when we start something, we start from the basics and then gradually improve.
Need start with body control and breathing. Being a delicate pathology, one must begin by knowing what an arm flexion is and knowing how to perform it, all accompanied by correct breathing, as if the person were having a lesson in pilates.
Knowing your body is very important in any discipline, so if we try to adapt the body to difficult movements (example snatch) we must master and mobilize each joint so that the person does not feel pain during the session.
Once you have learned the movement, the next step is to work on elasticity, to avoid shortening and give more quality to the muscle.
The stretching we do after each training session is not enough, another session is needed in which we try to stretch the muscles, seeking maximum joint mobility.
Let's talk about wods: the key aspects for physical conditioning are already clear (symptoms, body control and stretching), you just need to gradually make their job more difficult, which has nothing to do with climbing a WOD.
THEbeginning of physical preparation must be very slow and cautious. From the beginning of training one day a week, you move on to two plus another day for stretching, and so on progressively until you can train all week, if you wish.
Metabolic
When it comes to metabolic training, referring to the equipment and not the WODs themselves, all equipment can be used: rope, skyerg, rowing machine, race and assault bikes.
Always make sure you teach the correct way to use the equipment and technique. It is important to keep the heart rate during exercise, so you don't overexert yourself, which can delay adaptation or increase symptoms of post-exercise pain and fatigue.
The intensity with which these workouts should be performed should be between 120-140 beats/minute, provided the person has the capacity.
Force
To train the force with this disease, one should istart with the least difficult materials or variants to perform, and then increase the difficulty.
Keep in mind that strength training means doing a simple pull-up, burpee or push ups. An example to explain all this with a basic movement is lo squatting.
The empty bar squat for any of us is not complicated, but for a person with fibromyalgia managing 20/15 kg of barre to start is really a lot.
A good start could be to only perform the movement itself and work it at intervals of time. The next step could be to work the isometric squat and so on.
Slowly increase gradually: do the squat with resistance (elastic band) and then with weights (discs, dumbbells or kettlebells), always adapting them until you can handle the weight of a barbell.
La same progression, but in reverse, can be applied to pull-ups. Let's start with the series on rings or two-handed TRX, then move on to tractions with one hand and with the help of the elastic and gradually lower the resistance until we can do a traction without assistance.
- easiest exercises to start with are isometrics and bodyweight work, followed by balance work (materials that create a certain type of instability) and from there moving on to more complex work such as polymetry, strength and power.
Recommendations
For a good adaptation we recommend the use of a heart rate monitor and to maintain continuous coach-student feedback to know at all times how you feel during training.
Also start a take care of yourself as if you were a professional athlete: in terms of nutrition (consult a nutritionist), pay attention to rest and visit the physiotherapist every week, if necessary. Let's also not forget about stress as little as possible and worry less about others and more about ourselves.