Effectiveness of a self-myofascial conditioning programme on pain, depression, anxiety and sleep quality in people with Fibromyalgia

Abstract

Self-myofascial release can facilitate the diminution or disappearance of the intense pain perceived by the nerve endings located hi the myofascial tissue. According to some researchers, fibromyalgia (FM) can be directly related to the "central sensitization" theory. The present study amis to determine the effectiveness of the application of a self-myofascial conditioning programme on pain, depression, anxiety, and quality of sleep in people diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (FM). A single-blind randomized controlled trial with parallel-group study was designed. The sample, consisting of 66 people diagnosed with FM, was randomly assigned to intervention (n = 33; age = 50.57±7.14) and control groups (n = 33; age = 57.4±4.52). Subjects hi the intervention group took pail in a self-myofascial conditioning programme, wrhich consisted of 40 sessions of 50 minutes each. Pre and post-intervention measurements were taken. Results were obtained by a 2x2 ANOVA for repeated measures with two factors (time and group). Results show that, after completing the programme, subjects hi the intervention group had seen a significant decrease in general pain (P< 0.01; 94, = 0.197), level of depression (P< 0.05; η2p = 0.128), state (P< 0.01; η2p=0.204) and trait anxiety (P < 0.01; η2P = 0.174), as well as three subscales related to the quality of sleep, such as ''sleep subjective quality" (P < 0.05; η2P = 0.144), "habitual sleep efficiency" (P < 0.05; η2P = 0.129) and "daily dysfunction" (P < 0.001; η2p = 0.277). These results indicate that participating hi a self-myofascial conditioning programme regularly and under the control of a physical education and sport professional can affect patients with FM positively both physically and psychologically.