Treating Pain of Fibromyalgia in Water.
The article I am reviewing is entitled "Treating Pain of Fibromyalgia in Water", was written by Lynda Huey. Lynda Huey who is a pioneer in the use of aquatic therapy wrote this article which was posted on her web site www.lahuey.com detailing the lives of two women, who through the use of aquatic exercise have been alleviating the pain of Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that causes severe pain throughout fibrous tissues and muscles. Fibromyalgia is diagnosed in individuals who have experienced wide spread pain that has occurred for more than three months in combination with pain in 11 of 18 specific bilateral points in the muscle tissue. These two women engage in aquatic exercise three times per week, being that the pool is the only place where they can exercise without experiencing excruciating pain. As we have discussed throughout our Aquatics class, the buoyancy of the water eliminates the pain in the muscles and joint that is usually associated with land exercise. Lynda Huey has set these women up with a variety of exercises within the pool to fight their syndrome. Huey focuses on a total body workout that includes stretching and working on different areas of the body. .
Huey begins her therapy with a deep water warm up that avoids the impact of the body having to hold itself up (standing), this is her general warm-up that is done slowly and easily, the arms, legs, head, neck, back, and shoulders are all stretched accordingly. The next part of her session is deep water interval training which includes deep water running, deep water walking, and flies, which are hip shoulder and abdominal abductions. This aspect of her workout is the best in developing aerobic work for Fibromyalgia patients as they go through low to medium intervals. Deep-water power exercises are performed gently shape the body, these exercises include sit kicks, heel lifts, bent knee twists, quick scissors, v-kicks, and deep back kicks.