In a study performed by researchers from the John Hopkins University, researchers concluded that short bursts of physical activity, distributed throughout the day can become an effective tool in disabling the chronic pain produced by fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic medical condition that usually causes pain in many regions and points throughout the body.  The pain can persist not only in muscle tissue but also in connective tissues (like the ones in the joints).

Symptoms

To date, there is an estimated ten million fibromyalgia sufferers in the United States alone. The pain associated with this condition is often so intense that people find it hard to do their day to day tasks with ease.

Performance at work can also be affected byfibromyalgia because the pain fluctuates ever so often; there is no assurance that the pain will not flare during the working day. The most common symptoms of this disease include:

1. Persistent and widespread pain in the chest region
   
   
2. Pain in several points of the body (not related to other medical conditions such as gout, etc.)
   
   
3. Stiffness in the joints, usually felt during the morning hours
   
   
4. Inexplicable fatigue
   
   
5. Problems sleeping soundly at night
   
   
6. Inexplicable anxiety, especially at doing something that involves physical effort or sustained movement.
   
   
7. Memory problems
   
   
8. Some patients suffer from depression, too
   
   
9. Abdominal pains

The active lifestyle connection

According to Dr. Kevin Fontaine, one of the proponents of the research on fibromyalgia, a patient doesn't have to engage in rigorous, traditional exercise to reap the benefits of an active lifestyle.  All you need to do, accord to Dr. Fontaine, is to increase the amount of physical activity you are engaged in on a daily basis.

For example, you can just choose to walk ten minutes or fifteen minutes to a store or to park instead of riding your motorcycle or car.  Gardening is also a great workout, because you tend to move around the garden, digging and transplanting stuff from one point to another. Dr. Fontaine believes that if you can stay active in this manner, then you will get the same benefits of a traditional, half-hour workout everyday.

The actual study involved two control groups: one group was given a seminar on how physical activity can help fibromyalgia sufferers, without providing any specific recommendations as to how the lifestyle change can be implemented.  The second group on the other hand, added thirty minutes' worth of physical activity to their daily routines.  The second group also walked more than the first group (fifty four percent more).

At the end of the twelve week study, the results were very encouraging: members of the second group of fibromyalgia sufferers reported less pain after engaging in more than 150 minutes of physical activity every week – minus traditional exercise routines.  They simply became more active than before and they walked more, too.

According to Dr. Fontaine, the best kind of exercise is the one that you can stick to for the rest of your life.  If the exercise is fun and doable, even if it's not traditional exercise, then it's good for your heart and good for people with fibromyalgia, too.

Other ways to control fibromyalgia-related pain

Research on this difficult medical condition is still on-going as we speak, but there have been some progress already in developing methods that ease the pain resulting from having the condition.  Here are other methods that you can explore:

1. Chronic fatigue and persistent stiffness are two of the most troublesome symptoms of fibromyalgia.  You may want to explore physical therapy to help reduce stiffness and fatigue for the long term. If physical therapy works, you won't have to use prescription drugs too much to control these two symptoms.
   
   
2. Fibromyalgia also causes sleep problems (which is associated with the two symptoms mentioned above).  Try melatonin, which is an OTC drug used to induce sleepiness.  Do not take the drug in the morning as this can cause drowsiness or sleepiness during the daytime.
   
   
3. Another symptoms of fibromyalgia is depression (which is associated with anxiety and pain, in general).  St. John's Wort is a popular remedy for depression in the world of alternative medicine.  It is an 'established herb', so to speak and is being marketed by countless herbal companies across the globe.
   
   
4. L-carnitine, a drug used primarily for weight loss, may contribute to lessening the pain in fibromyalgia patients.
   
   
5. If you are having problems with your bowels (I.B.S., constipation) after you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, then you may want to try out a probiotic diet.  A probiotic diet tends to reduce inflammation in the bowels, which can then improve bowel movement.