Source: Kardiologiia  |  Posted 8 years ago

By Jerry Ingram

ORLANDO, FL -- March 9, 2004 -- Patients suffering with fibromyalgia may benefit from an interdisciplinary approach that includes medication, exercise, and relaxation, say researchers.

"Fibromyalgia patients appear to be very responsive to an interdisciplinary treatment, and currently it is viewed as a last-ditch effort for these patients. However, our study suggests that this may be something which can be used early on in treatment rather than waiting to the end when it may not be very useful to them," said Cynthia Van Keuren, PsyD, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Van Keuren presented the results of her study here on March 7th at the 20th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

In order to assess how well fibromyalgia patients would respond to a program commonly used in chronic pain rehabilitation, Van Keuren and her team from the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, evaluated 178 patients diagnosed with chronic low back pain, neuropathic pain, or fibromyalgia. They looked at the outcomes of change in self-reported levels of pain, self-perceived levels of disability, and self-reported depression.

Patients were asked to measure their pain on a scale of 0 to 10. Disability was assessed with the Pain Disability Index, and depression was determined with the Beck Depression Inventory.

Researchers found that patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia reported significantly greater improvements than the other patients in the domains of the disability ratings. In terms of self-perceived disability, patients with fibromyalgia showed a greater response to treatment, a finding that is consistent with the existing literature, researchers concluded.

[Study title: Fibromyalgia ? A Special Indication for Chronic Pain Rehabilitation. Poster 113]