2. Muscle stiffness
Patients with fibromyalgia often report feeling stiff and with difficulty to move, especially when they wake up in the morning. The reported sensation is that they need to stretch and move because their body feels too rigid and the muscles don’t loosen up until a few minutes pass.
In some cases, the feeling goes away very quickly, and patients can go on with their lives without much trouble. In other cases, the stiffness lasts for hours, or even the whole day, making daily activities more difficult than usual. However, in the vast majority of cases, the stiffness goes away by itself in about fifteen to twenty minutes after people get up of bed. A few light exercises can help get rid of the stiffness, like some stretching and joint movement. These exercises must be performed with caution, so as not to make joint or muscle pain worse.
