A mounting body of literature recommends that treatment for fibromyalgia (FM) encompass medications, exercise and improvement of coping skills. However, there is a significant gap in determining an effective counterpart to pharmacotherapy that incorporates both exercise and coping. The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to evaluate the effects of a comprehensive yoga intervention on FM symptoms and coping. A sample of 53 female FM patients were randomized to the 8-week Yoga of Awareness program (gentle poses, meditation, breathing exercises, yoga-based coping instructions, group discussions) or to wait-listed standard care. Data were analyzed by intention to treat. At post-treatment, women assigned to the yoga program showed significantly greater improvements on standardized measures of FM symptoms and functioning, including pain, fatigue, and mood, and in pain catastrophizing, acceptance, and other coping strategies. This pilot study provides promising support for the potential benefits of a yoga program for women with FM.

Previous researchers have found that 10-form Tai chi yields symptomatic benefit in patients with fibromyalgia (FM). The purpose of this study was to further investigate earlier findings and add a focus on functional mobility. We conducted a parallel-group randomized controlled trial FMmodified 8-form Yang-style Tai chi program compared to an education control. Participants met in small groups twice weekly for 90 min over 12 weeks. The primary endpoint was symptom reduction and improvement in self-report physical function, as measured by the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), from baseline to 12 weeks. Secondary endpoints included pain severity and interference (Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), sleep (Pittsburg sleep Inventory), selfefficacy, and functional mobility. Of the 101 randomly assigned subjects (mean age 54 years, 93 % female), those in the Tai chi condition compared with the education condition demonstrated clinically and statistically significant improvements in FIQ scores (16.5 vs. 3.1, p=0.0002), BPI pain severity (1.2 vs. 0.4, p=0.0008), BPI pain interference (2.1 vs. 0.6, p=0.0000), sleep (2.0 vs. −0.03, p=0.0003), and self-efficacy for pain control (9.2 vs. −1.5, p=0.0001). Functional mobility Correspondence to: Kim D. Jones. Disclosures: None.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10067-012-1996-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Existent FM literature indicates that higher intensity exercise programs, regardless of mode, result in improved physical fitness, but often worsen pain, induce a symptom flare, reduce self-efficacy, and have little or no effect on sleep [6,7]. Clinicians, therefore, may not wish to encourage FM patients to initiate a conventional exercise program. Recently, exercise that employs a mind/body component has been found to be effective for reducing FM symptoms [8]. Tai chi is a mind/body exercise that differs from conventional exercise programs that focus exclusively on physical fitness (e.g., aerobics training) in that the mind (psychological) and body (physical) are an integrated, unified whole. Tai chi combines slow, graceful, purposeful movements with controlled breathing and relaxation. As a form of ancient Chinese martial arts, Tai chi's mechanism of action is purported to appropriately distribute the body's vital energy, termed "qi." Tai chi can be easily modified to account for the central and peripheral dysfunctions associated with FM. The practice is progressive in intensity, timing, and type of physical and mental challenge [9]. Tai chi has gained popularity in the USA and has been demonstrated to be effective in elders or persons with painful musculoskeletal disorders including rheumatoid and osteoarthritis [10][11][12]. HHS Public AccessThree Tai chi studies in FM have resulted in symptom or fitness improvement. The first was a positive "proof of concept" study, but it was limited by lack of a control group [13].Another was limited by a sample size of six [14]. However...

IntroductionPostural instability and falls are increasingly recognized problems in patients with fibromyalgia (FM). The purpose of this study was to determine whether FM patients, compared to age-matched healthy controls (HCs), have differences in dynamic posturography, including sensory, motor, and limits of stability. We further sought to determine whether postural instability is associated with strength, proprioception and lower-extremity myofascial trigger points (MTPs); FM symptoms and physical function; dyscognition; balance confidence; and medication use. Last, we evaluated self-reported of falls over the past six months.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we compared middle-aged FM patients and age-matched HCs who underwent computerized dynamic posturography testing and completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire-Revised (FIQR) and balance and fall questionnaires. All subjects underwent a neurological and musculoskeletal examination. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and explore the relationships between variables. The relationships between subjective, clinical and objective variables were evaluated by correlation and regression analyses.ResultsTwenty-five FM patients and twenty-seven HCs (combined mean age ± standard deviation (SD): 48.6 ± 9.7 years) completed testing. FM patients scored statistically lower on composite sensory organization tests (primary outcome; P < 0.010), as well as with regard to vestibular, visual and somatosensory ratio scores on dynamic posturography. Balance confidence was significantly different between groups, with FM patients reporting less confidence than HCs (mean ± SD: 81.24 ± 19.52 vs. 98.52 ± 2.45; P < 0.001). Interestingly, 76% to 84% of FM patients had gastrocnemius and/or anterior tibialis MTPs. Postural stability was best predicted by dyscognition, FIQR score and body mass index. Regarding falls, 3 (11%) of 27 HCs had fallen only once during the past 6 months, whereas 18 (72%) of 25 FM patients had fallen at least once. Fifteen FM patients (60%) reported falling at least three times in the past six months.ConclusionsIn this study, we report that middle-aged FM patients have consistent objective sensory deficits on dynamic posturography, despite having a normal clinical neurological examination. Further study is needed to determine prospective fall rates and the significance of lower-extremity MTPs. The development of interventions to improve balance and reduce falls in FM patients may need to combine balance training with exercise and cognitive training.

Objective: To investigate whether a training process that focused on a questionnaire-based diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and developing diagnostic consensus, would improve the agreement of TCM diagnoses among 10 TCM practitioners evaluating patients with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD). Design and setting: Evaluation of a diagnostic training program at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona, and the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, Portland, Oregon. Subjects: Screened participants for a study of TCM for TMJD. Practitioners: Ten (10) licensed acupuncturists with a minimum of 5 years licensure and education in Chinese herbs. Methods: A training session using a questionnaire-based diagnostic form was conducted, followed by waves of diagnostic sessions. Between sessions, practitioners discussed the results of the previous round of participants with a focus on reducing variability in primary diagnosis and severity rating of each diagnosis: 3 waves of 5 patients were assessed by 4 practitioner pairs for a total of 120 diagnoses. At 18 months, practitioners completed a recalibration exercise with a similar format with a total of 32 diagnoses. These diagnoses were then examined with respect to the rate of agreement among the 10 practitioners using inter-rater correlations and kappas. Results: The inter-rater correlation with respect to the TCM diagnoses among the 10 practitioners increased from 0.112 to 0.618 with training. Statistically significant improvements were found between the baseline and 18 month exercises ( p < 0.01). Conclusions: Inter-rater reliability of TCM diagnosis may be improved through a training process and a questionnaire-based diagnosis process. The improvements varied by diagnosis, with the greatest congruence among primary and more severe diagnoses. Future TCM studies should consider including calibration training to improve the validity of results.

TAT warrants further research for weight-loss maintenance. Any further research on qigong should use a modification of our protocol.

These alternative medicine approaches each resulted in significantly greater reduction of pain and psychosocial interference than SC. Further research on the potential benefits of traditional whole systems of medicine for TMD appears warranted.

Complementary and alternative medicine includes a number of exercise modalities, such as tai chi, qigong, yoga, and a variety of lesser-known movement therapies. A meta-analysis of the current literature was conducted estimating the effect size of the different modalities, study quality and bias, and adverse events. The level of research has been moderately weak to date, but most studies report a medium-to-high effect size in pain reduction. Given the lack of adverse events, there is little risk in recommending these modalities as a critical component in a multimodal treatment plan, which is often required for fibromyalgia management.

Patients with functional pain disorders often complain of generalized sensory hypersensitivity, finding sounds, smells, or even everyday light aversive. The neural basis for this aversion is unknown, but cannot be attributed to a general increase in cortical sensory processing. Here we quantified the threshold for aversion to light in patients with fibromyalgia, a pain disorder thought to reflect dysregulation of brain pain-modulating systems. These individuals expressed discomfort at light levels substantially lower than healthy controls. Complementary studies in lightly anesthetized rat demonstrated that a subset of identified pain-modulating neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla unexpectedly responds to light. Approximately half of the pain-facilitating “ON-cells” and pain-inhibiting “OFF-cells” sampled exhibited a change in firing with light exposure, shifting the system to a pro-nociceptive state with activation of ON-cells and suppression of OFF-cell firing. The change in neuronal firing did not require a trigeminal or posterior thalamic relay, but was blocked by inactivation of the olivary pretectal nucleus. Light exposure also resulted in a measurable but modest decrease in the threshold for heat-evoked paw withdrawal, as would be expected with engagement of this pain-modulating circuitry. These data demonstrate integration of information about light intensity with somatic input at the level of single pain-modulating neurons in the brainstem of the rat under basal conditions. Taken together, our findings in rodents and humans provide a novel mechanism for abnormal photosensitivity, and suggest that light has the potential to engage pain-modulating systems such that normally innocuous inputs are perceived as aversive or even painful.