European Guidelines Strongly Recommend Physical Therapy with Exercise for Fibromyalgia

If you have recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, you may find that is limited information regarding treatment options, aside from taking medications. 

Here is an article and some additional information as to how physical therapy may be another route to alleviating Fibromyalgia pain.

Experts from 12 European countries have recommended supervised exercise as a primary intervention for individuals with fibromyalgia. In an updated clinical practice guideline (CPG) by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) published in the British Medial Journal’s Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, physical therapy with graded exercise is the only intervention to receive the group’s strongest recommendation.

Previous EULAR guideline found very few studies on pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic treatments for fibromyalgia, but that has changed. The current CPG is based on analysis of 275 published articles and 107 systematic reviews. The authors looked at how well interventions addressed, pain, fatigue, sleep, and daily functioning, and assigned levels of support for each intervention: “strong against,” “weak against,” “weak for,” and “strong for.”

Highlights included:

• Aerobic exercise and resistance training significantly reduce pain and improve physical function. The evidence seems to suggest that land-and water-based exercises are equally effective, although more research is needed. The recommendation was “strong for.”

• Chiropractic treatment is not proven to be effective at relieving pain. Due to a lack of high-quality studies, the authors recommended “strong against.”

• Mindfulness/mind-body therapy may decrease pain. While the studies showed decreased pain, there was risk for bias. The authors recommended “weak for.”

Based on this evidence, the authors recommend that after being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and receiving education materials, a patient’s next option should be physical therapy “with graded physical exercise” that could be combined with other nonpharmacologic treatments such as acupuncture.

http://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2016/07/04/annrheumdis-2016-209724.full#sec-6

PTinMotionmag.org/June 2017

If you would like to discuss your case as it relates to your Fibromyalgia diagnosis, call for a free 15-20-minute phone consultation to see if physical therapy with BodyFit Physical Therapy would help you.

Call Cindy at 860-507-7365 or email cindy@bodyfitphysicaltherapy.com.