A physical therapist at Cedars-Sinai hospital has been able to help ease the pain of Fibromyalgia patients through physcial therapy even though they haven’t responded elsewhere. Mima Siegel, PT, is asenior physical therapist in outpatient rehabilitation services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Siegel specializes in orthopedic injuries, fibromyalgia and chronic pain.
Why has Siegel’s approach to treating Fibromyalgia pain worked when other therapists have failed? She says:
“I teach patients to cope with the symptoms and feel comfortable enough with their bodies so they can wash dishes or go to the park with their children without worrying about pain.I have learned that I need to treat the fibromyalgia syndrome before I try to treat additional musculoskeletal pain.”
Siegel is aware that Fibromyalgia isn’t a simple medical condition to treat and she says:
“It’s difficult to diagnose and manage fibromyalgia because it cannot be understood according to the classical medical model of disease.”
Siegel’s goal through treating Fibromyalgia patients is to teach them how to regain trust in their bodies, which I’m sure is no easy task, but Siegel has had a lot of experience doing just that. Siegel has been at Cedars-Sinai for 16 years and she has more than 30 years of physical therapy experience.
Where have other physical therapists gone wrong when it comes to treating Fibromyalgia patients? They have to first treat the Fibromyalgia before the pain can be controlled.
To read more about Siegel and how Cedars-Sinai treats Fibromyalgia patients, click the link below.
Finally, a sensible PT! I have gone to PT with such high hopes, only to find someone ocndemning me for my size and telling me I really don’t hurt that bad, that I need to exercise through the pain so I can get rid of the pain, insisting the pain comes solely from inactivity, instead of the inactivity being a result of the pain. These wannabe cure-all PTs, who must imagine their names in lights as having cured fibromyalgia when they start out on these drill sargeant routines, are doing more harm than good. Time after time I have begged them to show me what I am doing wrong if an exercise hurts, but what I get is some quip like “no pain, no gain.” I finally said to the last zealous PT that all I gain from overexercise is more pain. Ny doctor pulled me out of PT when we both believed it had such potential to heal.
It seems to me that this PT has gotten some things right. No, I don’t trust my body; it’s told me before that I have enough energy to complete a small project, so long as I am careful and I’ve had to quit partway through the project, unable to continue due to pain and fatigue.
I hope that this PT succeeds in explaining her approach to more of her colleagues. There are too many “body nazis” in the PT and OT ranks, ones who do nothing but condemn rather than trying to understand. We need more like this one. I’d like to pass on my thanks to her. And to any others like her who are doing the same basic stuff but have not yet been “discovered” by those who need them so badly.
Interesting concept. I hadn’t heard of treating Fibromyalgia that way. I will have to pass that along to my friend who has it! Thanks!