How much is fibromyalgia costing your life?
Move each slider to reflect your experience. There are no wrong answers — only a clearer picture of what you've been carrying.
You're losing roughly 14 hours a week and have given up 3 activities you love. Here's how our patients start reclaiming them — usually within 8 weeks.
Why hasn't anything worked before?
Most fibromyalgia care treats the symptom list, not the nervous system driving it. Here's the structural difference.
| Conventional care | Tender protocolrecommended | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary model | Symptom suppression — each complaint addressed in isolation by a separate specialist | Central sensitization protocol — the nervous system is the patient, not the symptom |
| Session frequency | 15-min medication reviews every 6–8 weeks | 50-min integrative sessions weekly for first 8 weeks, then fortnightly |
| Modalities used | Pharmacological management (gabapentin, duloxetine, sleep aids) | Myofascial release, graded motor imagery, vagus nerve stimulation, breathwork |
| Your role | Passive recipient of prescriptions and referrals | Active participant — you learn to read and regulate your own nervous system |
| What success looks like | Reduced pain scores on a numeric scale | Resumed activities, improved sleep architecture, reduced flare frequency |
Patient-reported outcomes
68% report sleeping through the night for the first time in years
82% have returned to at least 2 activities they had abandoned
Will you believe me?
Our intake form asks "where doesn't it hurt" because the answer is shorter. Here's what that looks like in practice.
| Conventional care | Tender protocolrecommended | |
|---|---|---|
| First appointment | Review of prior records; patient asked to rate pain on a 1–10 scale | 75-minute Listening Appointment — your history, in your words, without a clock on the wall |
| Diagnostic framing | "We can't find a cause" or "It may be psychological" | Fibromyalgia is a nervous system condition. We explain the neuroscience in plain language. |
| Inconclusive labs | Normal results used to dismiss symptoms | Normal labs are expected. We use functional assessment, not bloodwork, to guide treatment. |
| Flare communication | Call the office during business hours; leave a message | Text or email — because phone calls during a flare are impossible for many people |
| Partner / family | Rarely included in care conversations | Optional joint session to help loved ones understand what they're witnessing |
Patient-reported outcomes
91% say this is the first time a clinician fully understood their experience
74% report their partner now understands their condition better
How is this different from physical therapy?
Physical therapy treats the body. We treat the body's relationship with its own nervous system — which is a different conversation.
| Conventional care | Tender protocolrecommended | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Strengthen weak muscles, improve range of motion, correct posture | Identify where the nervous system is amplifying pain signals and retrain the response |
| Pain during sessions | "Push through" — mild discomfort expected and encouraged | We work below your pain threshold. Triggering a flare is a clinical failure, not a milestone. |
| Dry needling | Targets trigger points in isolation; not always offered | Integrated with vagus nerve protocol — needling sessions are timed to nervous system state |
| Graded motor imagery | Rarely used; requires specialist training most PTs don't have | Core to our protocol — we use mirror therapy and mental rehearsal to rewire pain maps |
| Homework | Exercise sheets; high non-adherence in fibromyalgia patients | Micro-practices of 3–7 minutes, designed for flare days — never punishing to skip |
Patient-reported outcomes
59% reduction in average daily pain intensity at 8 weeks
71% reduction in flare frequency at 16 weeks
What patients say after they stop waiting to feel better.
These are real outcomes from real patients, measured at 8 and 16 weeks.
feel believed for the first time after their first session
sleeping through the night at 8 weeks
reduction in flare frequency at 16 weeks
returned to 2+ abandoned activities by week 16
I came in with a folder of bloodwork that said nothing was wrong. They looked at it and said "normal labs are expected — that doesn't mean nothing is wrong." I cried in the waiting room.
Marissa T.
Diagnosed 7 years before finding Tender. Returned to hiking at 16 weeks.
My husband finally came to a session with me. He left understanding what a flare actually is. That was worth more than any medication I've been on.
Diane F.
58, retired teacher. Told for 4 years it was "just aging."
The graded motor imagery felt strange the first week. By week six I realized I hadn't woken up at 3am in pain for the first time since 2019.
Priya N.
39, software engineer. Reduced flare days from 18/month to 4/month.
You've carried this long enough.
A Listening Appointment is 75 minutes. No paperwork beforehand, no rushing. Just you, your history, and a clinician who has been waiting to understand it.
Not ready to book yet?
Download our free Flare-Day Toolkit — a PDF built for the days when getting out of bed is enough. Includes nervous system regulation practices of 3–7 minutes each.
Your first visit
75 minutes, no paperwork beforehand
You talk. We listen. No clock on the wall.
We explain the neuroscience in plain language
You leave with a draft protocol, not a prescription