Why do I feel muscle fatigue when doing exercises for chronic pain?
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Celeste Cooper answered:There are many reasons why someone with chronic pain would feel fatigued with exercise, but most important is to make sure you do not have a co-existing or underlying condition that might cause fatigue, such as, heart or metabolic disease, muscle disease, a neurological disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, or fibromyalgia.
If the muscle itself becomes fatigued with exercise it could be due to chronic myofascial pain from myofascial trigger points. This condition is prevalent in fibromyalgia, but also occurs on its own, especially after some type of physical trauma, repetitive motion injury, sports injury or even surgery.
Chronic myofascial pain (CMP) is a disease that affects the chemical responses between nerve endings and muscle, where there is an excessive release of a neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger in the central nervous system) called acetylcholine. The presence of myofascial trigger points may go unnoted unless you see a trained physician or therapist, and are a great cause and aggravator of chronic pain.
Exercising a muscle with myofascial trigger points, which shorten the muscle and make it dysfunctional, can cause more pain and muscle fatigue.
If your fatigue is generalized and not attributable to other conditions, it is important to set limits and build slowly, find an exercise you enjoy, and vary your routine to keep it alive. Aerobic exercise releases natural endoprhins, pain killers, and is important to general health. Depending on the cause of chronic pain, it could make the pain better. Weight bearing exercise is good for arthritis joint pain, Yoga for stiff muscle pain and balance, and T’ai Chi for fluid meditative movement.
Learn more about CMP at http://www.thesethree.com/cmp/chronic-myofascial-pain.php
All blogs, posts and answers are based on the work in Integrative Therapies for Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Myofascial Pain: The Mind-Body Connection by Celeste Cooper, RN, and Jeff Miller, PhD. 2010, Vermont: Healing Arts press and are not meant to replace medical advice.
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There are many reasons why someone with chronic pain would feel fatigued with exercise, but most important is to make sure you do not have a co-existing or underlying condition that might cause fatigue, such as, heart or... More -
Rick Olderman answered:So often, clients are disappointed to find that they feel muscle fatigue quickly when exercising with correct form. I happily point out that this is great news because they are finally activating and strengthening the right muscles without exacerbating their chronic pain condition! Keep this in mind as you strengthen through your injury.
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So often, clients are disappointed to find that they feel muscle fatigue quickly when exercising with correct form. I happily point out that this is great news because they are finally activating and strengthening the right muscles without... More
