Experience with women with fbromyalgia who practice zumba. Case reports

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Different types of exercises are being used for the treatment of fibromyalgia, such as aerobic, resistance, flexibility exercises and body awareness therapy, but there is strong evidence that the gold standard for the non-pharmacological treatment of this disease is the aerobic exercise. The objective of this study was to collect reports of patients with fibromyalgia who practiced three months of dance (Zumba) and had to stop dancing for three months due to the recess of the academic activity at the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. CASE REPORTS: This is a qualitative study about the experience of 16 women with fibromyalgia, who participated in Zumba class for three months in 2016. The reports were collected when they resumed their dance activities in March 2017. Therefore, the patients remained with no intervention for three months, during the academic recess. The patients wrote their reports on a sheet of paper, answering three questions. According to the reports, we noticed that Zumba brought several benefits for these patients, such as pain relief, improved sleep quality, self-esteem and physical performance. CONCLUSION: Based on patients’ reports we can conclude that Zumba, as a three-month intervention, produced positive effects in improving pain, functional capacity, and quality of life of women with fibromyalgia.