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

CER3025
2007 Vol.25, N°3
PI 0410, PF 0415
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PMID: 17631737 [PubMed]

Abstract

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.