https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25782585/
The topic of fibromyalgia can be daunting because it's broad and complicated. Fibromyalgia remains a diagnosis of exclusion, although over time we’re starting to identify it as a constellation of symptoms that tend to occur together and usually in targeted populations (women in particular.)
Chiropractors routinely see patients with a fibromyalgia diagnosis as part of their practice. That is because fibromyalgia patients can have very discrete neuromusculoskeletal lesions amenable to chiropractic care that if left unattended, can greatly amplified the chronic background pain.
This article explores another aspect in which chiropractic care can fit in the overall treatment plan of patients with fibromyalgia, and this time from a very different angle. Research in fibromyalgia of the last 10 years has unearthed multiple mechanisms of causation, including some degree of autonomic nervous system dysfunction. The upper cervical spine is extremely rich in sensory afferents to the brainstem, where most of our autonomic control is located. Spinal functional lesions in the upper cervical spine does have a greater impact on autonomic dysregulation, and potentially a great therapeutic impact with chiropractic correction in fibromyalgia patients.
One item of note: fibromyalgia are very slowly changing conditions over time so treatment plans need to adapt to that reality and involve slightly more spread out treatment over a longer period of time to be effective.,
