A functional exercise program improves pain and health related quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial


Author: Giovana Fernandes1, Michele Nery1, Sandra Mara Meireles1, Rebeka Santos1, Jamil Natour2, Fabio Jennings1

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Rheumatology Division, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Botucatu, 740, São Paulo, SP, CEP: 04023-900, Brazil.

<sup>2</sup> Rheumatology Division, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Botucatu, 740, São Paulo, SP, CEP: 04023-900, Brazil. jnatour@unifesp.br.
Conference/Journal: Adv Rheumatol
Date published: 2024 Oct 24
Other:
 Volume ID: 64   ,  Issue ID: 1   ,  Pages: 81   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1186/s42358-024-00422-7.   ,  Word Count: 272  
    Background/objective:

Fibromyalgia is a non-inflammatory syndrome characterized by generalized muscle pain, with other symptoms. Numerous forms of physical training for this population have been studied through high-quality randomized clinical trials involving strength, flexibility, aerobic conditioning and multicomponent exercise interventions. This research evaluated the effectiveness of a functional exercise program at reducing pain, improving functional capacity, increasing muscle strength as well as improving flexibility, balance and quality of life in individuals with fibromyalgia.



Methods:

Eighty-two women with fibromyalgia were randomized into two groups. The functional exercise group performed functional exercises in 45-minute sessions twice per week for 14 weeks. The stretching exercise group performed flexibility exercises with the same duration and frequency. Outcome measures were: visual analog scale for widespread pain; Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire for health-related quality of life; Timed Up and Go test for functional performance; one-repetition maximum for muscle strength, Sit and Reach test on Wells bench for flexibility; Berg Balance Scale for balance; SF-36 for general quality of life.



Results:

After the intervention, the functional exercise group had a statistically significant reduction in pain (interaction p = 0.002), and improvement in health-related quality of life measured by the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (interaction p < 0.001) and in general health state domain of SF-36 (interaction p = 0.043) compared to the stretching exercise group. No significant differences between groups were found regarding improvements in functional capacity, muscle strength, flexibility or balance.



Conclusion:

Functional exercise training was effective at reducing pain and improving quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia compared to stretching exercises.



Trial registration:

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03682588 First prospectively registered in March 2018.



Keywords: Exercise; Fibromyalgia; Functional training; Rehabilitation.



PMID: 39449056 DOI: 10.1186/s42358-024-00422-7