The Exercise Pain Barrier – are you fighting fibromyalgia or your mind?

Breaking through the fitness ‘pain barrier’.

This article was written by Em who is fighting fibro with fitness. If this is something that intrigues you, read on for her 13 tips.

If you live with Fibromyalgia then I think you instinctively know what I talk about when I talk about a pain barrier. After all for many of us it’s what we do every single day when we want to curl up and find some peace but our commitments mean that we have to keep moving, drawing on reserves and strength that we often forget we have. There aren’t many positives of living with fibro but for me my enhanced self awareness is one.

The pain barrier for me is pushing through when mentally and physically you don’t want to. Now of course I’m not talking about ignoring what the body needs and pushing myself too hard, that would be foolish and lead me to a worse place faster (yes of course I learnt this the hard way – I question if really there is any other way??)

I’m referring to re-starting or beginning to implement a challenging life change such as exercise. I’m referring to the active challenging of our negative thinking patterns and habitual behaviours. Working hard to get to the point where we finally start to feel the benefits and overcoming the worry that every body ache is doing us harm.

So here are my top tips for breaking through the pain barrier.

1. Prioritise this time for you. Tell yourself if you feel better, everyone around you will feel better too. Explain to your significant others what you’re seeking to achieve and ask for their support and/or join an online community (like this one!) 

2. If you stop now, when will you start? Keep your mind on your goals – picture them in your head. Remember how good you feel when you do physical activity: I think all of the times I am convinced I myself I wasn’t up to it but went and felt better for it. Equally think of all the times you quit something and regretted it.

3. Consider your timetable and needs and devise a realistic training plan – one that is manageable but consistently heads to where you want be. At first, your plan can be simple as “Go Exercise” – the rest will follow.

4. Examine your self awareness. My Grandmother used to say “you’ll never die for the want of an excuse!” That can be me to a tee! If you really don’t feel it up to it -don’t do it, but don’t give into your excuses either. Try to be honest with yourself and learn the difference.

5. Challenge your negative thoughts or fears – examine the truth of your thoughts. Because of the symptoms of chronic illness we often feel “I can’t” rather than “I can”. Don’t accept your thoughts without looking at them and don’t allow “ I can’t” to become your default. For example, what evidence do you have that exercise is bad for you? If you do have evidence, how can you adapt? – e.g. cycling is bad for my hip…. ok I’ll use the rowing machine instead. 

Em exercising at home using here stairs to strengthen her calves.

6. Sometimes I compromise by not going to the gym but exercising at home instead; 30 minutes at home is better than nothing at all. It doesn’t matter quite so much what you do; consistency is most important in these early days. I often find that giving myself these compromises usually gets me doing some form of exercise, because I’ve put no pressure on myself I perform better than I planned to, not because I forced myself but because I wanted to.

7. I’ve said it before but take your progress shots, they’ll inspire you. One you have a comparison set, they’ll remind you of your success and you can see what you’d like to work on. Once you see a difference, ask yourself do “do I want to go back to where I started?”

8. For further motivation, follow people whose fitness you admire, you tube, social media and of course blogs are excellent sources of advice and inspiration. 

9. If you can afford to, buy yourself some snazzy gym wear that you feel good in. You’ll want to go the gym to wear it!

10. Don’t be impatient – if you expect instant results you’re going to be disappointed. Every bit of the journey is progress. Celebrate your success every time you work out. Reward yourself with a soak in the tub or your favourite TV show for a job well done.

11. Learn from your sessions, identify how your body feels after each workout and use it to inform how you train next time. For example, if you’re fatigued in one area, train another, if a certain exercise doesn’t feel right, try a variation. If you find you didn’t recover very well from a session, do less next time (of course that works in reverse too!)

12. Try to fuel and hydrate your body with healthy foods and water. Don’t starve yourself, fatigue is already a factor for us, so help yourself by boosting your energy with good food and fluids. A fuel empty body will seriously affect your motivation and ability.

13. Remember it take 28 days to make and break a habit, in sheer days you can alter your mindset and change the pain barrier to routine and routine to fun, energy and good health.

Lastly feel proud that you’re doing this for you. Walk your journey held held high. There will be pitfalls but change often comes from challenge.

From Em who use to blog at Fibro My Story and who is @Fibromystory1 on twitter.  Em is concentrating on exercising and fighting fibro with fitness.

Let’s Not Call it Exercise

Let’s Call it Mindful Movement

Say the word “exercise” to a person with Fibromyalgia, and you will most likely get a negative response. Exercise is a harsh and ugly word. It has become synonymous with pain to most of us.

Rare is the Fibromyalgia patient who embraces exercise.

Not only does it elicit a pain response in most of us, but it also sends our defenses up. Too, too many times we have heard the unsolicited advice, “If you would only exercise you would feel much better.” We could all give examples of some of the insensitive and inaccurate things we have heard, that is not at question here, but what is under consideration is what truth is there in those comments?

It is hard to consider the validity to a comment that has raised our defenses and left us feeling misunderstood. But what if, regardless of how misinformed the comment and commenter, there is an underlying validity to it? Should we continue to be defensive and ignore what instinctively we already know? Who are we hurting if we do this? Not them, that is for sure.

It hurts to move, so you are telling me I need to move?
How does that make sense?

Be Mindful

The fact is, not all exercise is good or even possible for most Fibromyalgia patients, but some form of mindful movement is essential if we ever want to improve our symptoms and our overall wellbeing. And yet it seems so counterintuitive: “It hurts to move, so you are telling me I need to move?” How does that make sense?

A lot of research has been done on this topic. Article after article has been written touting the benefits of exercise for Fibromyalgia. Here is a summary of the benefits of exercise for those with Fibromyalgia from WebMD: 

helps restore the body’s neurochemical balance and triggers a positive emotional state

boosts levels of natural endorphins — pain-fighting molecules

triggers the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, hormones that are known to boost alertness

burns calories and makes weight control easier

gives range-of-motion to painful muscles and joints

improves a person’s outlook on life

improves quality of sleep

improves one’s sense of well-being

increases aerobic capacity

increases cardiovascular health

increases energy

places the responsibility of healing in the hands of the patient

reduces anxiety levels and depression

relieves stress associated with a chronic disease

stimulates growth hormone secretion

stimulates the secretion of endorphins or “happy hormones”

strengthens bones

strengthens muscles

Would your life and your symptoms benefit with even one of the listed improvements? Then let’s step back from our conditioned response to exercise and think about how we can approach mindful movement with more positive results.

Be Gentle

This really is a matter of reconditioning our response to, and expectation of movement. Societies idea of exercising for health is to push through the pain; No Pain No Gain. Absurd really, and an approach that will guarantee failure for those of us living daily in pain. Take that approach and turn it inside out and then upside down. Gentle, mindful movement is the key to exercising with Fibromyalgia.

If you are familiar with my blog at all you know I am a huge proponent of yoga. Well I learned the hard way recently that I need to revise my ardor of yoga.

 I learned the hard way recently that I need to revise my ardor of yoga.

I Love Yoga, But Not All Yoga Loves Me

My first experience with yoga years ago was a No Pain No Gain experience. Even though I made an attempt to explain Fibromyalgia and my limitations to the instructor, she still pushed me way beyond my means. It was an awful experience and I was done with yoga. Fortunately, Fibromyalgia has taught me to consider and reconsider everything, because, when given the opportunity to practice yoga again, I did and had a completely different experience. It was one of the greatest epiphany moments I have had. Movement without pain. Hallelujah!

But then recently I had a setback to my love affair with yoga. For financial reasons I was no longer able to attend the gentle yoga classes that were having such a positive impact on my health and my symptoms. I was forced to look for alternatives; I tried YouTube videos with no success; found a few sources on Facebook that were okay, but not great; rented a few DVD’s, not even close. Then I resorted to buying a Yoga for Beginners DVD. I mistakenly interpreted “for beginners” as meaning “gentle.” Boy was I wrong. Massive failure and major flare-up.

But We Are Resilient – Remember

So I looked again specifically for “gentle” yoga, and I found a free class being offered at a local library. My love was back. I spent the next restorative hour in mindful movement so gentle I sometimes wonder if it is really benefitting me, but it is. The result was no flare, days of improved cognitive function, better sleep, and decreased pain – all from one class!

Next you have to find the appropriate movement for you.
It may not be yoga. Maybe it is Tai Chi or Qigong.
Maybe it is some form of water movement.

Not All Movement is Created Equal

So you tried yoga and it hurt and sent you into a flare and now you are done with exercising. Exercising is not for you. I could not possibly understand how severely exercise hurts you because if I did I would not be telling you to do it.

I understand all of the reasoning behind not exercising, because I used them all myself for many years. And if I had tried yoga again and it had been anything other than gentle and restorative, I would still be reasoning myself out of attempting any form of movement. It is understandable. We have become conditioned by our pain. But the really great thing is that we can also become reconditioned.

First you must trust that your muscles need movement. The longer they remain inactive, the more severely they will continue to hurt, the less energy you will have, and the harder it will be for them to support your frame. Your muscles want and need to move.

Next you have to find the appropriate movement for you. It may not be yoga. Maybe it is Tai Chi or Qigong. Maybe it is some form of water movement. Maybe it is a slow and gentle walk. Find what works best for you. Find what you love and what makes your body say Hallelujah.

Finally you need to accept that you will feel sore and there may be some discomfort, but you should not become discouraged by it. Consider how long you have been inactive. Honor you body and your limitations, but do not use them as the reason for not trying.

As with all things Fibromyalgia, there is no easy answer or quick fix, but if you intend to get better, then mindful movement is a necessary step towards wellness. Do not give up if your first attempt is a failure. Regroup and recommit yourself to mindful movement. When you find what works for you the rewards will be many, including an increased range of pain free movement. And as I like to say – be sure to take baby steps to avoid making the painful leaps.

First published in Fibro Haven by Dannette Mason the Founder of the School of Gentle Yoga. Dannette has spent the last 20+ years learning natural ways to heal from the many complicated symptoms related to a traumatic brain injury suffered in 1996. Her passion and persistence led to her life’s purpose as a Yoga Therapist. 

Hydrotherapy Benefits Fibromyalgia Patients Only If They Stick With It, Study Reveals

Hydrotherapy — physical exercise performed in water — can effectively improve clinical symptoms of fibromyalgia only if performed continuously.

That finding was drawn from data collected in a randomized, controlled trial, reported recently in the study “Effects of aquatic training and detraining on women with fibromyalgia: controlled randomized clinical trial.” The study was published in the European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

Several non-pharmacological strategies have been proposed to manage fibromyalgia symptoms. Among the non-pharmacological possibilities is aquatic physical training, or hydrotherapy, which consists of an aerobic physical training program that is conducted in a heated pool. This alternative treatment option reduced pain and improved the quality of life of fibromyalgia patients.

METHODS

To have a better understanding of the benefits of hydrotherapy, Brazilian researchers conducted a controlled trial. The study enrolled a total of 54 women with clinically diagnosed fibromyalgia who were randomly assigned to undergo hydrotherapy or just perform their normal daily life activities.

The training program consisted of 32 sessions of 45 minutes, twice a week, for a total of 16 weeks. Each session included a 10-minute warm-up phase, 30 minutes of intense exercise, and five minutes of relaxation exercises.

RESULTS

After 16 weeks of hydrotherapy training the participants showed a significant improvement in their aerobic capacity compared to baseline levels, and compared to those in the control group. Also, after the training program the patients said they experienced less fatigue and anxiety, and improved well-being, functional capacity, and vitality.

The patients showed a 7% reduction in pain scores, 192% increase in SF-36 physical function, and a reduction of 19% in FIQ score after completion of the 16 weeks of therapy.

However, these positive effects were lost during the following 16 weeks, in which the participants stopped the training program. 

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT

The team believes that aquatic physical training “should be continuously performed in order to improve clinical symptomatology and increase the aerobic functional capacity” of those living with fibromyalgia.

READ STUDY REPORT 

MY OWN EXPERIENCES WITH HYDROTHERAPY

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Exercises for Fibromyalgia: The Complete Exercise Guide for Managing and Lessening Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Studies consistently show that exercise helps restore the body’s neurochemical balance, boosts energy, restores sleep, and overall improves the emotional state. 

As medical practitioners, we see both great results with exercise and, at times, aversion to it due to a negative prior experience and exacerbation of symptoms. 

It is this double-edged sword that patients and we as physicians face in using therapeutic exercise in the treatment of fibromyalgia. 

On the one hand, exercise is another form of exertion for someone who already has decreased endurance, fatigue, and disturbed sleep. 

For someone with fibromyalgia, to take on an exercise routine means overcoming the above barriers, only to face the next question: How do I exercise so that I get the benefits without getting the unwanted increase in fatigue and pain? What are the appropriate exercises and where do I start? Zinovy Meyler, D.O., Co-Director, Interventional Spine Program, Princeton Spine and Joint Center 

In Exercise for Fibromyalgia, rehabilitative specialist William Smith has created a book that details the theory of exercise with the clinical experience and empirical evidence, showing the science behind appropriate therapeutic exercise.  This book is a much needed road map in the maze that can be fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a debilitating condition, yet medical opinions are divided as to its cause and how it should be treated. Is it a neurological or a physical ailment? Should you treat the muscles or the mind? The correct answer is to treat both. Improving overall fitness while reducing anxiety and stress is the key to reducing your fibromyalgia symptoms and improving your daily functioning.

This book Exercises for Fibromyalgia is designed to improve your fitness and energy levels without strain or stiffness. With a focus on exercises designed to relieve pain and improve sleep for fibromyalgia sufferers, you will find yourself feeling better each day, as your strength increases and your soreness decreases.

Combined with effective techniques proven to relieve stress and improve your sleep habits, Exercises for Fibromyalgia makes sure your mind and body both benefit from a healthy lifestyle.

Exercises for Fibromyalgia also includes:

- An overview of living with fibromyalgia and the benefits of exercise
- Clear, informative pictures of safe, effective exercises
- Detailed instructions on how to perform each exercise
- A complete exercise approach to reduce stress and improve fitness
- A training log to track progress

Having fibromyalgia doesn’t mean having to give up exercise as this book can show you how safely.

If you are interested you can get more information here Exercises for Fibromyalgia: The Complete Exercise Guide for Managing and Lessening Fibromyalgia Symptoms

I am an Amazon affiliate which means that I will receive a small payment, at no extra cost to you, for any purchases made through the above link. Thank you.

Tai Chi for fibromyalgia

Researchers have found that there are greater improvements in Fibromyalgia symptoms in people doing tai chi than in people doing aerobic exercise.

Tai chi, is an ancient Chinese exercise that came out of martial arts that has since become part of traditional Chinese medicine. Tai chi combines deep breathing and relaxation with flowing movements.

The study was led by Dr Chenchen Wang from Tufts University's Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Boston to compare the effects of tai chi with aerobic exercise. 226 adults who had fibromyalgia participated in the study. None of them had engaged in tai chi or other types of alternative therapy in the 6 months before starting the study.

When the study began, the researchers questioned the patients about their physical and mental symptoms, including the intensity of their pain, ability to move, fatigue, depression, anxiety and overall well-being.

The patients were assigned to either aerobic exercise therapy or tai chi. The exercise group completed two supervised aerobic exercise sessions each week for a total of 24 weeks. Those who engaged in tai chi followed one of four treatment plans: one or two sessions per week for a total of either 12 or 24 weeks.

The patients continued taking their medication and made regular visits to their doctor.

This was a single-blind randomised controlled trial and the research was published in BMJ on 21 March 2018.

Researchers found there were greater benefits in people who did tai chi, compared with the aerobic exercise, when done twice a week for 24 weeks.

All patients experienced some relief of their symptoms, but the improvements were much greater among those in the tai chi groups at the end of 24 weeks.The researchers suggest that tai chi should be considered as a therapeutic option for the management of fibromyalgia.

“We think our results suggest that physicians should think about what type of exercise is best for their patients with fibromyalgia,” says Wang. “We found that tai chi was more enjoyable, there was a social connection and they could practice it at home by themselves with their family and friends.”

The great thing about tai chi is that it can be done by most people in most settings.

I have done tai chi in the past, before I had fibromyalgia, and found it very calming. After reading this research I will be looking for a beginner's class in tai chi. How about you have you tried tai chi? I would love to hear.

Can Low-Impact Exercises Help Fibromyalgia?

Exercise is a divided topic within the fibromyalgia community and with many people who have chronic pain conditions. Why? Because some people find it very useful and some find it aggravates their condition.

Getting it just right for the individual living with chronic pain is an issue. Many people believe you should push through the pain and do exercise and many people with fibro find this ridiculous.

I believe the kind of exercise you do when you live with chronic pain is crucial.

The other thing that is important is your current situation... are you bed-ridden, living in a wheel-chair, able to walk around easily or walking with the help of a cane?

Low-impact exercises have definitely been shown to improve symptoms of fibromyalgia in different studies. It can lessen pain and improve fitness. A 2007 study found that women with fibromyalgia in a four-month exercise program reported significant improvements in physical function, fatigue, and depression.

But don't overdo it. Walking, stretching, and water WALKING are good things to start with.

Low-impact means that the impact on our joints, especially our knee, ankles and hips is reduced. Some helpful low-impact exercises include:

Yoga and Tai chi:

Yoga and tai chi are practices that combine meditation, slow movements, deep breathing and relaxation. Both have been found to be helpful in controlling fibromyalgia symptoms.

A study by Oregon Health and Science University has confirmed that yoga is of benefit to fibro sufferers.

A study published in 2018 found that tai chi was helpful and recommended in reducing fibromyalgia symptoms.

Pilates:

Significant improvement was observed in both pain and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionaire after 12 weeks of Pilates exercises according to this study.

Walking:

The Mayo Clinic lists walking as the number one form of exercise for fibromyalgia. Walking can decrease your pain and stiffness.

Start off slowly, for example, with 10-minute walks. Then build up your time.

Gentle water aerobics and Hydrotherapy:

Warm water can be relaxing to muscles and joints and the water supports your body making exercise easier.

Aquatic training is beneficial for improving wellness, symptoms, and fitness in adults with fibromyalgia according to this systematic review.

Exercise can reduce stress and relieve muscle tension and pain. It can improve your range of motion and flexibility. It can restore muscle strength or prevent it from deteriorating. It increases serotonin in the brain which makes us feel calmer.

So why don't we exercise? It's like a catch 22 situation where exercise can make us feel better on so many levels but we actually have to feel good, or at least okay, to want to get up off the lounge and exercise.

I have been exercising again, after a break, and I feel so much better. It's not just that it gives structure to my week but I actually feel better: less pain and stronger arm muscles. Before it killed me to carry the groceries in from the car and now I can actually manage. So that is a big improvement.

It wasn't easy to get started with exercise, I really had to force myself. I made it like an appointment I had to keep and just stuck to it and now I really look forward to it and thoroughly enjoy it…nothing too vigorous just gentle walking three days a week, hydrotherapy one day and exercises recommended by the physiotherapist on the other three days.

The thing I have found important is to start very slowly with whatever exercise I try and build up slowly. I've been a very active person in my past and learning to go slow at the start and realize I am no longer that same person has been a huge learning curve for me.

Do you manage to fit exercise into your life? Do you have any handy hints for getting moving?

Maybe you already exercise and want to take it up a notch. If so, reading Kim's inspiring story may help.

This post was LINKED UP AT FIBRO FRIDAY


SOURCES:

Archives of Internal Medicine. Nov. 12, 2007;167(20):2192-200.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17998491
Altan L, Korkmaz N, Bingol U, Gunay B. Effect of Pilates training on people with fibromyalgia syndrome: a pilot study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2009;90:1983–8. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2009.06.021.


Aquatic exercise training for fibromyalgia.
Bidonde J, Busch AJ, Webber SC, Schachter CL, Danyliw A, Overend TJ, Richards RS, Rader T.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Oct 28; (10):CD011336. Epub 2014 Oct 28.

Study: Exercise may help memory of Fibro patients

This was a study on fibromyalgia, memory and exercise.

Fibromyalgia patients who stopped taking their medication and then exercised regularly for six weeks reported improved memory function and less pain, according to a small, study.
 

I think this is an interesting study, especially for those of us with cognitive symptoms and those who are not happy taking medications for their Fibromyalgia.

Exercise has long been recommended to fibromyalgia patients, and some find it improves their sense of well-being.

"This is a first look at understanding how exercise alters memory performance, Dr. Brian Walitt, director of the Fibromyalgia Evaluation and Research Center at Georgetown University Medical Center said of the study.

The interesting part of the study, to me, was that when they initially took the fibro patients off the medicine, they performed worse on the tests and then the longer they stayed off the medications and exercised, their cognitive performance returned to normal levels. Also the women, in the study, had to do three thirty minute sessions of aerobic activity a week and Dr Walitt admitted that some people with Fibromyalgia may not be able to do this.

Look below for the complete infographic on how memory works

The main take away for me from this research was that:

One of the main issues in brain fog is the inability to get oxygen and nutrients to the brain. In some people this can be a circulation issue so it makes sense that exercise can help.

So apparently the next time we are experiencing a bad bout of fibro fog we just have to remember to exercise! Well I guess really we should be exercising on a regular basis.

What kind of exercise will you be doing or are you doing regularly? I am doing hydrotherapy just once a week but I hope to increase that soon and I also do some simple arm and leg and neck exercises every single day.

I would love you to post the exercise you do here, especially if you feel it benefits your fibro.

You may also like this article on Yoga and the benefits to people with Fibromyalgia.

Yoga is not considered an aerobic activity but may be easier for some people to participate in.

SOURCES:

Brian Walitt, M.D., M.P.H., director, Fibromyalgia Evaluation and Research Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; I. Jon Russell, M.D., Ph.D., fibromyalgia researcher and consultant, San Antonio, Texas; Nov. 13, 2011, presentation, Society of Neuroscience annual meeting, in Washington, D.C.

HealthDay

To view memory infographic more clearly go here 

What exercise works for fibromyalgia?

This article explains the best exercise for fibromyalgia. It has evidence to back it up. It may also be that it is my favorite activity for reducing muscle tightness and helping me maintain my muscle strength. 

Exercise is often the last thing we feel like doing when living with fibromyalgia and many people find that walking, which is often suggested, aggravates the pain for days after. 

Walking in warm water or water aerobics may be the solution if it is accessible to you.

Physical therapy in warm water has been effective and highly recommended for people with fibromyalgia. The natural buoyancy of the water is what makes it easy to do. The warm water is comforting and relaxes the joints and the muscles. Many studies have shown that walking in water is one of the most popular interventions used which significantly lowers ratings of fatigue after exercise and reduces the delayed onset muscle soreness that many of us with fibromyalgia get.

If you have fibromyalgia pain, you're likely clenching right now.

"Clenching is an involuntary reaction to stress," says Doris Cope, MD, director of Pain Management at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "People tense their muscles, and probably don't even realize they're doing it. That reduces blood flow to the muscles, which causes pain."

That's why moving in warm water is great for reducing pain as it relaxes the muscles and gets blood flow to the muscles and tendons.

Hydrotherapy is a recommended course of treatment for patients with any type of chronic pain condition. Hydrotherapy reduces pain by promoting normal movement, increasing muscle length, and increasing muscle strength and control. Conditions that may benefit include fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome, and longstanding musculoskeletal conditions. ~ Hydrotherapy India

You don't need to be a swimmer to join in a water exercise class: at the group I joined many people stood in the shallow water and hung onto the railing to do the movements and there was no swimming or floating involved.  There was even a hoist to lift some people, who could not manage the stairs, into the water.

I personally find exercises in warm water essential to soothe my pain and turn it down. 

I do weekly classes of hydrotherapy and research has been done to explain the importance of this strategy for managing fibromyalgia, as long as these aquatic classes were maintained. 

Check out the link above which includes information about studies from Spain done on water aerobics. These studies were done at the University of Extremadura, Spain, and the University of Evora, Portugal, and published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.

The study showed participants experienced an improvement in their fibromyalgia symptoms including 

(1) mobility,
(2) self-care,
(3) daily activities,
(4) pain and discomfort, and
(5) anxiety or depression.

The results of a 2019 study published in Physical Therapy stated that “aquatic exercise produced sufficient muscle activation, intensity, and exertion.” It also noted that aquatic physical therapy showed a reduction of pain compared to regular or “land exercises.” In fact, the pain was noted twice as frequently in patients who exercised out of the water. 

What is hydrotherapy used for? 

According to Michigan Medicine hydrotherapy is used to treat many illnesses and conditions, such as arthritis; depression; headaches; joint, muscle, and nerve problems; sleep disorders; and stress. 

Where can I do hydrotherapy?

Many hospitals, fitness centers, and public aquatic centers have classes of varying levels of fitness. An aerobic-type class would NOT be suitable but many seniors classes or lessons for people with arthritis would address the common physical challenges. 

What are other names for hydrotherapy?

Hydrotherapy is also called water therapy, aqua physiotherapy, aquatic physical therapy, or aquatic therapy. 

What temperature should the water be for hydrotherapy?

The water temperature of a therapy pool is generally between 88 and 94 degrees Fahrenheit (31.11 °Celsius and 34.44 °Celsius) because this has been proven to relax muscles and decrease stiffness, which makes it easier to move. 

SOURCES

Scientific Evidence-Based Effects of Hydrotherapy on Various Systems of the Body

Water Exercise and Fibromyalgia Pain from WebMD
Research Article in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.

Practical Pain Management

You may also be interested in these articles:

Starting hydrotherapy for Fibromyalgia

Can Low-Impact Exercises Help Fibromyalgia?

Hydrotherapy Benefits Fibromyalgia Patients Only If They Stick With It, Study Reveals