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Core FM Program

Overview of Fibromyalgia

Comprehensive Assessment of FM & Overlapping Conditions

Pharmacological Management

Supportive FM Program

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Exercise Training

Nutrition

Biofeedback Training

Therapeutic Yoga: Body Awareness, Posture and Movement

Description of Core FM Program

The three chapters of the Core FM Program aim to assist healthcare providers in understanding FM as a condition that overlaps with many conditions based upon presenting symptoms, pathophysiology, and functional changes. Completion of the Core FM chapters will allow learners to describe pain/sensory control, to delineate possible underlying factors and to discuss diagnostic issues, to discuss FM as it fits with other chronic widespread pain disorders, and to comprehend pharmacologic treatment and its rationale in persons with FM.

Course Information

Course Name: Overview of Fibromyalgia

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Daniel J. Clauw, MD

Objectives:

• Describe the history of FM as a diagnosis.
• Discuss the fundamental problem in FM as a disorder in pain or sensory processing, leading to an “increase in the volume control.”
• Delineate how neurobiological, psychological, behavioral, and cognitive factors all influence symptom expression.
• Discuss the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach that embraces the biopsychosocial origins of the disorder in the management of FM.

Course Name: Comprehensive Assessment of FM & Overlapping Conditions

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Patrick B. Wood, MD

Objectives:

• Identify symptoms commonly associated with FM beyond chronic widespread pain and tenderness.
• Describe conditions that overlap with FM in terms of patient clinical presentation and symptom experience.
• List conditions that frequently occur as co-morbidities in patients with FM.
• Develop differential diagnoses for patients presenting with chronic fatigue, disturbed sleep, and neuropsychiatric disturbances, including anxiety/mood disturbances and cognitive dysfunction.
• Discuss potential laboratory and imaging studies that may be helpful in the development of differential diagnoses.

Course Name: Pharmacological Management

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Robert M. Bennett, MD, FRCP, FACP, MACR

Objectives:

• Describe the basic anatomy / pathophysiology of pain in enough detail to understand the rational use of medications.
• Recognize the three main therapeutic areas that need to be considered (pain, sleep, mood disorders).
• Recognize the common co-morbidities that are present at varying degrees in most FM patients.
• Discuss the fact that many FM patients require combination therapy and the advantages and risks of such therapy.

Description of Supportive FM Program

The five chapters supporting the Core FM Program supplement the core knowledge in terms of evidence-based strategies for symptom management relative to FM. Given the heterogeneity of presentation patterns for persons with FM along with the condition’s chronicity, these nonpharmacologic strategies may supplement more traditional pharmacologic treatments. Multiple studies show that persons with FM seek out an integrative approach to symptom management. Learners will be able to discuss, when available, evidence-based strategies that providers can recommend or use with patients in the areas of cognitive behavioral therapy, general exercise, biofeedback, nutrition, and yoga.

Course Information

Course Name: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: David A. Williams, PhD

Objectives:

• Describe Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in general and discuss the underlying assumptions and goals for treatment associated with this form of intervention.
• Provide a rationale for using CBT approaches to treatment in individuals with FM.
• Recognize which CBT interventions might benefit a particular patient given his or her particular symptoms.
• Describe models of clinical care that facilitate inclusion of CBT into the overall management of FM.

Course Name: Exercise Training

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Daniel S. Rooks, ScD

Objectives:

• Offer an overview of counseling people to be more physically active, for all practitioners, with a focus on the special needs of patients with fibromyalgia.
• Describe general, evidence-based physical activity and exercise recommendations for promoting health, mobility, and well-being.
• Provide a rationale for increasing physical activity and exercise in individuals with fibromyalgia based on existing research.
• Review a model for counseling patients to develop a more active lifestyle.
• Summarize the components of an appropriate exercise program for the individual with fibromyalgia and approaches for improving program adherence.

Course Name: Nutrition

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Archana J. McEligot, PhD

Objectives:

• Discuss pathophysiologic mechanisms related to FM that provide a rationale for the use of diet in alleviating FM symptoms.
• Provide evidence-based data on the influence of diet on the pathophysiology of FM.
• Recognize dietary foods that could potentially alleviate and/or aggravate FM symptoms.
• Identify nutrients that may have a potential role in modifying FM symptoms.
• Distinguish between various types of dietary supplements and evaluate their role in reducing FM symptoms.

Course Name: Biofeedback Training

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Afton L. Hassett, PsyD

Objectives:

• Describe biofeedback in general and discuss various forms of biofeedback and evidence-based applications for a range of patient populations.
• Provide a rationale for the use of biofeedback therapies for individuals with FM based on existing research and theories of pathophysiology.
• Recognize which biofeedback intervention might benefit a particular patient given his or her particular symptoms.
• Access information regarding finding appropriate biofeedback services in the community, as well as refer patients to online resources where reliable self-practice biofeedback equipment can be obtained.

Course Name: Therapeutic Yoga: Body Awareness, Posture and Movement

Level of Instruction: Intermediate

Presenter: Sarah Bates, MA, OTR/L, ERYT

Objectives:

• Describe the interaction of central and peripheral factors in normal body awareness, posture and movement.
• Explain the impact of FM on normal body awareness, posture, and movement
• Describe yoga and therapeutic yoga in general and give examples of evidence-based therapeutic yoga applications.
• Provide a rationale for use of therapeutic yoga in FM based on existing research and theories of pathophysiology.
• Access information regarding finding appropriate therapeutic yoga services in the community, as well as online and in print and other media.