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Completed

NCT Number: NCT02472093

A New Rehabilitation Tool in Fibromyalgia

The aim of the investigators study was to measure reductions in chronic pain in female patients with Fibromylgia comparing individual proprioceptive rehabilitation treatments with perceptual surfaces to a group exercises rehabilitation. Fibromyalgia is a generalized chronic pain condition that is usually accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance and psychological and cognitive alterations.

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Key information

Conditions

Fibromyalgia Back Pain Muscular Diseases Musculoskeletal Diseases Nervous System Diseases Neurologic Manifestations Neuromuscular Diseases Pain Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Rheumatic Diseases Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 year–60 year

Sex eligibility

Female

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • fibromyalgia diagnosed according to the criteria proposed by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR 1990 and 2010)
  • Subjects aged between 18 and 60 years
  • visual analog scale (VAS) for pain > 5

Exclusion criteria

  • presence of concomitant autoimmune diseases
  • psychiatric disorders
  • other causes of chronic pain
  • other diseases that prevented physical loading
  • severe scoliosis or kyphoscoliosis
  • surgery of the spine
  • vertebral fractures
  • sciatic pain
  • tumors
  • enrolled in another type of physical therapy program
  • myocardial infarction
  • lower extremity arterial disease
  • major neurological problems
  • diabetes
  • gastrointestinal disease
  • chronic respiratory disease
  • kidney disease
  • poor vision

Treatment and study plan

Physical exercises treatment

Other

Includes different types of exercises: low-impact to moderate aerobic training; walking fast in a circle, alternating with periods of going up and down the stairs (3 steps for 10 minutes) for a total of 20 consecutive minutes; posture exercises for the back and proprioceptive exercises for the trunk in the supine position to improve axial stability, including diaphragmatic breathing. The heart rate was monitored through the use of a heart rate monitor, which allowed not to exceed the threshold.

Other names: Rehabilitation Group Exercises

Perceptive Rehabilitation Treatment

Other

therapeutic system that is based on the interaction between the patient's back or painful area and a support surface, composed of small latex cones with various dimensions (height: 3-8 cm; base diameter: 2-4 cm) and elasticities. The inferior bases of these cones are applied to a rigid wood surface using elastic strips.

Other names: Perceptual surfaces

Control Group

Other

The control group did brief educational sessions.

Primary outcomes

  1. Change of Fibromyalgia Assessment Scale (FAS) from baseline to 12 weeks

    Time frame: baseline, 4 weeks, 12 weeks

    It is a simple and rapidly implemented index, consisting of a pain map, called the Self-Assessment Pain Scale (SAPS) (in which the patient is asked to indicate how much pain he suffered in the previous week in 16 areas of the body, with scored from 0 to 3), and 2 scales (between 0 and 10) that evaluate fatigue and quality of sleep, scored from 0-10. The FAS allows physicians to obtain reliable information concerning the course of the disease and is sufficiently sensitive to alert them in case of deterioration.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change of Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) from baseline to 12 weeks

    Time frame: baseline, 4 weeks, 12 weeks

    It comprises 3 sections-function, impact, and symptoms-combining to generate an overall score. The first section contains 10 sub items and focuses on the patient's ability to perform daily tasks that involve the large muscles (eg, cooking, cleaning, walking, shopping, homemaking, socializing, and mobility). The next 2 items ask patients to circle the number of days in the past week in which they felt good and the number of days that they missed work. The last 7 items assess the ability to do one's job, pain, fatigue, morning tiredness, stiffness, anxiety, and depression. The total score on the FIQ is calculated by adding the following 10 items: the physical function score, the number of days feeling good, the number of work days missed, the ability to do one's job, pain, fatigue, morning tiredness, stiffness, anxiety, and depression. The FIQ score ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 indicating the worst possible score due to Fibromylgia.

  2. Change of Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) from baseline to 12 weeks

    Time frame: baseline, 4 weeks, 12 weeks

    It is a 20-item self-administered questionnaire that determines the difficulty in performing 8 daily activities (dressing and grooming, getting up, eating, walking, hygiene, reaching, ability to grip, and outside activities). For each item, patients are asked to rate the level of difficulty that they have experienced over the previous week in performing these activities on a 4-point scale from 0 (no difficulty) to 3 (unable to perform). The final HAQ score is the average score of the 8 categories, thus ranging from 0 to 3; higher scores reflect greater levels of disability.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Roma La Sapienza

Other

Registry information

Official study title

A New Rehabilitation Tool in Fibromyalgia: Efficacy of Perceptive Rehabilitation Versus Group Exercises on Pain and Function: a Clinical Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)

Important dates

Study start
2012
Primary completion
2012
Study completion
2013
First posted
Jun 15, 2015
Registry last updated
Jun 15, 2015

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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