What things could make my FOP worse?

Don't be afraid to do every little thing, but there are some things you probably should not do because you might fall down, like running, skating, playing football, and riding a two-wheeler bicycle. Hold onto the handrail when you walk on the stairs.

Surgery is a trauma to your body. Surgery to take away FOP bone doesn't work. The FOP bones just grow back again.

If you have appendicitis or some other sickness that could be dangerous, you may need to have surgery just like anyone else would because the appendicitis could hurt you more than the FOP. That kind of surgery might or might not cause a flare-up. But it wouldn't be a good idea to have surgery you really don't need or surgery to take away FOP bone.

Shots are also trauma and getting a shot can cause a lesion.
People with FOP should not get shots in the muscle.
These are called intramuscular or IM injections. DPT (that stands for diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) shots and flu shots are normally IM injections.

Some shots can be given under the skin.
This kind of shot is called a subcutaneous injection.. It's OK for people with FOP to have subcutaneous injections. I was given two MMR (that's measles-mumps-rubella) shots under the skin. When people got measles where I live, my doctor thought it would be better for me to get subcutaneous MMR shots than get the measles. I didn't get any lesions from the MMR shots.

People who have FOP should not have shots of novocaine in their mouths.
That can make the FOP bone start to grow in your jaw, which could stop your jaw from opening as wide. The dentist can paint on medicine or let you smell a gas that makes you sleepy. These things will stop pain if you need to get a tooth filled and they won't hurt your FOP. If you need to have a blood test or need an IV , the doctor should be careful that the needle doesn't go into the muscle. IV means intravenous and the needle is supposed to go into veins where the blood flows, not into muscles.

Nobody should hold your arms or legs and try to stretch them.
You can stretch your own muscles by moving your arms and legs as wide or as high as you can.

But no other person should hold your body and try to stretch it in ways that you can't move yourself.
"Active" stretching where you move your own muscles is good for you. But "passive" stretching if someone tries to stretch your body more than you could stretch it yourself can hurt your FOP.

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