Podiatrist asks is Fibromyalgia a Disease or Clinical Term

Here is an article that I wrote several months ago and ran  around the country and over seas./

Fibromyalgia, which  “is characterized by poor sleep, fatigue, and widespread aching and stiffness in soft tissues, including muscles, tendons, and ligaments” is a controversial condition (http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec05/ch074/ch074c.html). Perhaps the best indication of its controversial status is the fact that Dr. Frederick Wolfe, the physician who initially helped coin the term “fibromyalgia” in 1990, retracted his initial belief that it is a disease. Instead, he acknowledges that it is only a clinical term and not a disease as such (http://acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=27576). The drug company Pfizer, which has created Lyrica specifically to treat Fibromyalgia, strongly believes it is a disease and they made 1.8 billion from the drug is 2007. Since then, Cymbalta and Sevella are also available as drugs designed to combat the specific symptoms of Fibromyalgia. Regardless of the real medical status of the cluster of symptoms characterizing the disease, millions of Americans identify as fibromyalgia sufferers and seek treatment.

While drugs may be effective for many, one north Florida (Panama City) podiatrist, Dr. Burton S. Schuler, suggests that the treatment for the chronic pain that characterizes the condition may be found in a simple toe pad placed under the first metatarsal bone of your foot (http://whyyoureallyhurt.com/home/#tp). Why a toe pad, when the pain that many fibromyalgia sufferers report is not isolated in the feet or legs? In Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts in the Foot, Schuler argues that a short first metatarsal bone (longer second toe also known as “Morton’s Toe after Dr. Dudley J. Morton), throws the foot’s natural balance off; this can result in shooting pain in your legs, knees and throughout the body. The toe pad can potentially help restore the foot’s natural balance and function as a shock absorber. Schuler denotes Dr Janet Travell also had a great deal to do with myofascial pain and fibro.  In 36 years of practicing podiatry, Dr. Schuler has treated many patients who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and also have a short first metatarsal bone (http://whyyoureallyhurt.com/mortons-toe/fibromyalgia/). He claims that the toe pad may not work for everyone but it is definitely worth considering if you suffer from the symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia—whether it is a disease, as some would have it, or a clinical term.