Lifestyle Advice - Myalgia
By Susie Black - get free updates of new articles here
Today we're looking at myalgia, a fancy word for pain.
Last month we looked at lifestyle advice for back pain. If you missed it, you can catch up HERE
This can be any kind of acute (short-lived) or chronic (long-term) muscular or joint pain and symptoms include stiffness, joint swelling, dull or sharp pain in muscles and joints. Myalgia can be caused by anything from overuse/recovery (delayed onset muscle soreness - DOMS) to long-term conditions such as fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis. It can also be a side effect of some medications such as statins or brought on by the sudden stopping of other medications such as opioids.
As there are so many causes and types of myalgia, the lifestyle advice is pretty general and all encompassing as well but the key take homes are:
To balance exercise and rest
To aim to be active on a daily basis
To perform mobility exercises and stretches regularly
To perform relaxation and mindfulness exercises
HERE'S THE LINK to the Lifestyle Advice Sheet on myalgia.
Sometimes it can be hard to find a starting point when experiencing chronic myalgia and Personal Trainers may seem like the last people you want to meet. So how can a PT help with myalgia-related conditions?
A good PT will discuss how to manage goal setting against fluctuating energy levels, taking into account the flare-ups, fatigue and mental overwhelm which often accompanies chronic myalgia. They're experts at accountability, planning so they can help you better monitor your health and wellbeing. They're ahead of changes to activity recommendations so can access the latest evidenced-based exercise prescriptions for health conditions and their wide knowledge of fitness opportunities can help you think around corners when it comes to choosing new activities. A PT understands better than anyone how important a role that rest plays in fitness and can guide you to balance your activity most effectively.
Myalgia and fatigue are common responses to Covid and, right now, there are more people experiencing hard to explain aches and pains or seeking ways to safely and gently increase their activity levels. If you've been struggling to get your fitness levels back up to their normal point and if it seems like more of a 'two steps forward, one step back' effort than usual then get in touch and we can have a quick chat about graduating your return to fitness.
