Chronic pain fatigues the muscles easily. However, if only the motor spinal nerve root is involved, there may be no associated pain and the patient’s primary complaint is that of fatigue. In such a situation, it is important that you be examined by a physician for evidence of disorders of the central and peripheral nervous system, autoimmune diseases, rheumatological diseases, blood diseases, hormonal disorders, infections, cardiovascular diseases etc. When these diseases have been ruled out and the symptoms still persist, presence of myofascial problems (nerve related muscle problems) need to be considered even if you have no symptoms of pain.
Many patients with chronic fatigue syndrome do not provide pain symptoms as a primary complaint but when asked, there are symptoms of nerve involvement such as muscle pain and tenderness, tightness, tingling and numbness in addition to fatigue and weakness.
You must think over your past as to whether you have had a past history of sudden or insidious trauma that you may have forgotten about. Nerve related muscle problems may be the cause of your fatigue if you answer yes to most of these following questions:
· Did your fatigue symptoms start after an auto accident, sports trauma, falls or a work related injury?
· Do you perform repetitive motion activities?
· Were the fatigue symptoms preceded by pain?
· Even if you do not have pain, do you have discomfort while performing daily activities?
· Is there a feeling of burning, throbbing, aching?
· Do you have tingling and numbness in your limbs?
· Is there a feeling of worms crawling under your skin ?
· Do you have cold intolerance?
· Does your skin appear blotchy and mottled?
· Do you see or feel twitches in your muscles?
· Do you get cramps easily?
· Do your muscles feel sore, swollen, tight and tender?
· Do your joints feel stiff?
· Can you feel bands, nodules or cords within your muscles?
· Has the hair in your arms or legs fallen off?
· Do you have irritable bowel and bladder syndrome?
Once you have a diagnosis of myofascial pain syndrome related fatigue, you can help your muscles by performing self massages as described in my earlier blogs. Although getting other people to massage you is an option, to get consistent massage effects of improving circulation, relaxing muscle spasm, and muscle stretch effects, you must do the massages yourself.
Self- massage allows you to receive the massages as many times as possible on a daily basis. Electrical stimulation of motor points to obtain strong force twitches is the scientific form of massage and is the treatment of choice for nerve related muscle problems.
© 2007 copyright www.stopmusclepain.com Chronic pain|fatigueAbout the Author:
Jennifer Chu, M.D., founder of eToims Soft Tissue Comfort Center® is also President and CEO of eToims Medical Technology LLC, a medical device company with training programs in eToims® Twitch Relief Method. She is an Emeritus Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania, where has been on faculty for more than 30 years. www.stopmusclepain.com Submitted at: marketplace4writers.com - WebSite Content and Article Directory "...rheumatological diseases, blood diseases, hormonal disorders, infections, cardiovascular diseases etc. When these diseases have been ruled out and the symptoms still persist,..." |
