Fibromyalgia : Simple Relief through Movement

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Summary: I was so glad to find this book!
Review: After being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and then told I wasn't allowed to exercise, my body has become stiff and its even hard to bend over to pick something off the floor. I'm excited to see how this will help me - each of the stretches focuses on areas that are specifically difficult to move after the pain has set in.

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Summary: Fibromyalgia - Movement vs Exercise
Review: An excellent book on how to exercise if you suffer from Fibromyalgia. Offers specific strategies to reduce pain with a careful, gradual approach to movement & then exercise. Explains which movements & excercises to avoid, which one to try, how to deal with flare-ups, etc. I should have read this book years ago - it would have spared me a lot of pain (& weight gain). If you have Fibromyalgia, you MUST read this book.

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Summary: Excellent
Review: I am a person who's read all the books that tell you the basics about Fibromyalgia. This book deals specifically with movement (activity and exercise) to help manage the condition and help alleviate the symptoms. While I have the condition and already use exercise and activity as medicine to help me, I thought I might learn a thing or two by reading this book. This book is not only informative on the subject specific for Fibromyalgia, it is also a very good advocate for different types of movement if you are living with this condition. There is plenty to learn from this book. While it's an easy, quick read, the infomation and tone of this book will keep it as a 'comfort book' on my bedside table. My only wish is that it was longer, but the information covered is perfect, so I guess that is a superficial gripe.

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Summary: The Best!
Review: I was concerned based on the review below that this book would disappoint me, but every concern vanished after reading it. Ms. Bigelow is motivating about movement, but does advocate rest. She does describe FMS as a neuro-endocrine suggestion and there are photographs of stretches, along with very specific exercise recommendations. A trustworthy, useful, refreshing reference!

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Summary: Simple Relief is just that, simple
Review: I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about a year and a half ago and have read everything I can get my hands on. With as debilitating as this syndrome is, I refuse to let it stop me and after almost a year of medication decided that I dont want to spend the rest of my life medicated. So, I have opted to treat my FMS by eating healthy, exercising and other alternative treatments (like acupunture). I bought this book thinking it would provide me with some additional guidances about exercise and movement. For me, the book was too simple. I already know everything it suggests. However, I do think that it could be something positive for those who are not moving or for loved ones of FMS sufferers, like my boyfriend who found the book quite informative.

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Summary: Fibromyalgia, Simple Relief Through Movement
Review: This book has some very practical and safe exercises for persons with chronic pain. It offers sound advice that can be carried out at home without expense. This disease is very debilitating and some of the exercise programs that we try to enforce in this culture certainly are ill advised. Ms. Bigelow offers very good suggestions to the patient.

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Summary: perpetuating the myth
Review: This book is one of the worst "self-help" books I have ever read concerning fibromyalgia. I was very dissapointed, hoping to find desciptions of specific exercises and stretches that would help ease the pain of fibromyalgia. Instead I find a book that perpetuates the myth that all fibromyalgia sufferers are simply lazy. This book suggests that all of us in pain need only to get off our lazy rear-ends, take our antidepressants, and that will cure us. It is a dangerously simplistic book that advises that the best perscription for fibro patients is to stay on your feet all day, on the move, and take your Dr.s prescribed antidepressants to help you sleep at night. The obsesrvations in this book are incredably shallow and simple-minded, comparing muscles to cement that will become set and hard if they sit still too long, and completely ignoring the new research that descibes fibromyalgia as a neurohormonal disorder, an exaggerated response of the CNS. I feel very sorry for people with fibromyalgia who actually believe this nonsense, try their best to follow the instructions and then feel inadequate when they don't experience the desired results. DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! Instead get:"Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Survival Manual" By Devin Starlanyl, M.D. and Mary Ellen Copeland, M.S.,M.A., and "Alternative Treatments for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" by Mari Skelly and Andrea Holm. These books will give you information that is useful and pertinant. Thanks to the folks at Amazon for making this information exchange possible. Good luck to all of you people in pain, I hope you find something to help!

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Summary: Anonymous additon to previous reviews.
Review: You might mention the fact that this author has suffered from fibromyalgia since teenagehood. That she writes from experience and knows exercises which are gentle enough to help without causing additional discomfort and pain makes this book a rare find.