Author: Bravo C1, Skjaerven LH2, Guitard Sein-Echaluce L1, Catalan-Matamoros D3,4
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway.
<sup>3</sup>Health Sciences Research Group CTS 451, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain - dacatala@hum.uc3m.es.
<sup>4</sup>Health Communication Research Unit, University Carlos III of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Conference/Journal: Eur J Phys Rehabil Med.
Date published: 2019 May 15
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.23736/S1973-9087.19.05291-2. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 248
INTRODUCTION: Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that is associated with widespread pain and is recognized as one of the major common causes of disability. The standard clinical guidance for fibromyalgia includes both pharmacological and non- pharmacological interventions. In the latter, different interventions are implemented such as aerobic exercises, flexibility exercises, strength training, stretching and body awareness therapies. The aims of this review were to provide a summary of movement and Body Awareness Therapies in patients with fibromyalgia and to compare the different therapies in relation to outcomes.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The search strategy was undertaken using the following databases from inception to October 2018: Pubmed, Cinahl, PEDro, PsychoInfo and The Cochrane Library. Articles were eligible if they were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing movement and body awareness therapies with another intervention.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. 418 studies were found, twenty-two of which met the inclusion criteria. Pain symptom was improved with movement and body awareness therapies such as, Affective Self-Awareness, T'ai Chi, Yoga, Belly dance, strengthening program and Resseguier method. Forest plot analysis in short term confirms positive trend in favor of body awareness; however a great heterogeneity was found between trials.
CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis shows positive results in favour of movement and body awareness therapies as adjunct treatment to usual care in patients who suffer from fibromyalgia. Further work in identifying the mechanism of action by which body awareness therapies benefit outcomes should be undertaken.
PMID: 31106558 DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.19.05291-2