What is mapping, why is it needed, and how does it feel?
Although standard procedure for diagnosing FMS is for a Rheumatologist to perform a pressure point examination, where at least 11 of 18 tender points must be painful, a more objective exam would be for a properly-trained technician to record the lumps found on the body. Dr St Amand determined that a patient’s ‘map of lumps’ is a good way of determining a more accurate and subjective diagnosis. Mapping is tool for titration of dose and confirms subjective feelings of ‘significant but tolerable’ exacerbation of symptoms. Once having achieved the correct dose it can also confirm suspicions of blocking with salicylates. Any objective map of the body that is always carried out by the same person can be utilized. Run the fingers with moderate pressure over the body, feeling for ‘swellings (lesions) within muscles, tendons and ligaments.’ The lesions are drawn on a map of a person’s body so that future maps may be compared to note progress. While mapping lumps is a more objective method of de
