Chronic Muscle Pain Recovery

The are numerous conditions that lead to chronic muscle pain that it would be impossible to review them and develop a pain recovery program that fits them all. If you are suffering from chronic muscle pain, the first step to recovery is to get a proper diagnosis of your condition to develop a plan that may help eliminate pain. Unfortunately, not all conditions may have a complete recovery but may experience a reduction in pain from these methods.

Infections

• While it is completely common for the person doing regular and vigorous exercise to experience muscle soreness the days following a workout, chronic pain that persists is not normal. Consulting with your doctor and doing normal blood work can determine if you have an infection that is causing the pain. Autoimmune diseases, Lyme disease and hepatitis C can all lead to chronic muscle pain, which is treatable with antibiotics.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

• Among the many symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are muscle weakness and chronic pain. How one gets this syndrome is still undetermined making it difficult to treat and prevent. Therefore treatment is focused on finding an alleviation of symptoms. Your medical practitioner will help you review your lifestyle and address stress and overexertion. Light activity should focus on stretching and circulation. This should be combined with nutritional modifications. These together help improve metabolic activity, energy levels and reduce pain.

Fibromyalgia

• Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition where patients experience pain in muscles, ligaments and tendons. There may be fatigue with tender spots in widespread areas of the body. There are several medications that can reduce the pain experienced in fibromyalgia patients: analgesics, anti-depressants and anti-seizure drugs. The goal of these drugs is to increase mobility, reduce pain and promote sleep for tissue health. You may also go through physical therapy to improve strength and flexibility with counseling to help learn to deal with stressful situations.

Arthritis

• People often don't think about arthritis causing muscle pain since it is a condition of joint inflammation. Yet those suffering from arthritis often experience chronic muscle pain as a result of stress and pressure created from the swelling. Joints become more stiff leading to less mobility and causing the muscles to strain through less vigorous activities.

  Pain medication, such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen, are often recommended to reduce pain and swelling. If these don't succeed, you may be prescribed a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication stronger than over-the-counter medicines. Corticosteroid injections, such as prednisone, may be prescribed to reduce swelling and pain allowing you to increase activity and mobility.

Depression

• One of the many symptoms of depression is muscle fatigue and weakness. Any activity could lead to muscle pain. A major problem in treating muscle pain in depressed patients is they often have other feelings that prevent treatment, such as apathy and exhaustion.

  Taking antidepressants will help a depressed patient regain energy and increase circulation that helps supply muscles with oxygen and nutrients. This will help reduce chronic muscle pain. By treating the depression patients will be encouraged to start exercise programs that will help alleviate the pain as well.