Monday, February 1, 2010

Fibromyalgia and Exercise

One of the hardest things for me to do is fibromyalgia exercises of any kind. I can come up with every excuse under the sun not to exercise. I want to explore as many reasons to exercise as possible.

When I hurt is probably the worst time for me to be able to exercise. Everything just hurts so badly. I have to remind myself that any exercise during this time is better than none. I also remind myself that exercise will give me a little boost of energy for my day.

One the other hand when I am not in pain the problem is entirely different. When I don’t hurt, I am anxious to get to work and try to catch up. If not that then I want to do things around the house that I have been putting off. I don’t want to stop and take the time to exercise.

Exercise when I feel good helps keep me flexible. It also helps build endurance as I can exercise for longer when I am not in pain. Loss of flexibility and endurance is a problem the longer I go on with fibromyalgia. I move around less and less. I have to use the chance on the days I can.

As with anything else you should start exercising with the advice and permission of your doctor. Fibromyalgia exercises which are good for flexibility and endurance are stretching, walking, yoga, water aerobics, and some strength training. There is even some evidence that exercise especially helps those people who have fibromyalgia and stiffness or restless leg syndrome.