Whilst treatments for fibromyalgia are numerous, physical treatments that treat the root cause of Fibromyalgia are still a goal, but that may be all about to change. Kati Thieme is a world renowned Fibromyalgia research scientist who is highly decorated in Germany and around the world, previously winning the international fibromyalgia researcher of the year award.

In this episode she shares her research and understanding about the root cause of fibromyalgia and how her theoretical research accidentally led to the discovery of an effective treatment for fibromyalgia called Systolic Extinction Training (SET), which when combined with psychological brain-training strategies, is very effective in resolving chronic pain in fibromyalgia and other conditions.

Professor Dr Kati Thieme explains how blood pressure and baroreceptor sensitivity relays to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the brainstem via the NTS nucleus, and how this part of the brain becomes ‘blind’ to the data from the body leading to dysregulation or dysautonomia as well as chronic pain.

We discuss heart rate variability(HRV) in this context as well as problems around fibromyalgia research and why a tailored approach to recovery is required, plus much more.