Effectiveness of muscle stretching exercises with and without laser therapy at tender points for patients with fibromyalgia

Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology

R.A. Casarotto¹  A.P. Marques¹  A. Assumpção¹  E.A.G. Ferreira¹  C.A.B. Pereira¹  L.A. Matsutani¹  L.V. Lage¹ 

关键词: Fibromyalgia;    exercise;    low-level laser therapy;    quality of life;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Pacini Editore SpA

【 摘 要 】

OBJECTIVES:To assess the efficiency of a treatment composed of muscle stretching exercises, associated or not to laser therapy at tender points, for patients with fibromyalgia (FM), in view of bettering their quality of life.METHODS:Twenty FM patients were randomly assigned to two groups: one submitted to laser therapy and stretching (LSG, n = 10), and the other only to stretching exercises (SG, n = 10). The visual analog scale of pain (VAS) and dolorimetry at tender points were used to assess pain; life quality was evaluated by means of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).RESULTS:After the treatment program, both in LSG and SG were detected pain reduction, higher pain threshold at tender points (all p < 0.01), lower mean FIQ scores, and higher SF-36 mean scores (all p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between both groups.CONCLUSIONS:The stretching exercises program proposed is efficient to reduce pain and painful sensibility at tender points, thus enhancing patients` quality of life. Laser therapy has not shown advantages when added to muscle stretching exercises.

【 授权许可】

Unknown