|
McLaren / Kettering Fibromyalgia Research Program |
|
Seeking solutions to chronic pain through the science of the brain |
|
Theories about Fibromyalgia: fact vs. fiction |
|
In 1989, the American Medical Association officially recognized FM as a distinct disease entity. Its symptoms have been reported in medical literature for over 200 years. Yet today, Fibromyalgia is STILL poorly understood. There is a lot of misinformation from all kinds of sources ranging from mass media to the Internet and even medical professionals.
This misinformation – or better yet total lack of knowledge – about FM costs the patient the most. Not only are treatment outcomes poor, but the FM patient ends up paying a lot of out-of-pocket expense for “treatments” that have no long-term benefit. In fact, a survey of patients involved in our research programs showed that of all therapy methods they had bought and paid for, only 7% had strong research evidence that the therapy method was beneficial in treating FM. More than 75% of the therapies had little or no evidence they were beneficial at all!
We believe that successful treatment for FM must be based on knowledge about the condition. That begins with fundamental understanding about the mechanisms of the illness … in other words, “what do we know about FM?” This leads to a model about what processes are taking place in the body that contribute to FM. We can then create treatment strategies that fit into that model: strategies that make sense and directly address the root issues behind the condition.
Click on the information panels at the right to learn more about what we know and what we are learning through scientific research … |
