Telerehabilitation proposal of mind-body technique for physical and psychological outcomes in patients with fibromyalgia

Abstract

Fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome is characterized by the close correlation of chronic widespread pain and other non-pain related symptoms. Aim of this study was to investigate whether telerehabilitation that provides physical and psychological support services of the mind-body techniques can affect the clinical profile and pain relief of FM patients. The study included twenty-eight female FM patients, mean aged 56.61 ± 8.56 years. All patients underwent a rehabilitation treatment (8 sessions, 1/week, 1 h/each) through Zoom platform, with the following principles of rehabilitation treatment: Anchoring to a positive emotion; listen and perceive your “own” body; conscious breathing; improve interoceptive awareness; relax. All patients then underwent clinical assessment of the physical distress and fear of movement for the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS); the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS); the Fear Avoidance Belief Questionnaire (FABQ); with measures of physical and mental disability for the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ); the 12-Items Short Form Survey; the Resilience Scale for Adults and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire-Revised. The evaluations were performed at T0 (baseline), T1 (after 8 weeks of treatment), and T2 (after 1 month of follow-up). The main finding was that telerehabilitation reduced physical and mental distress, fear, and disability (p < 0.001). Resilience and coping ability were less affected by the rehabilitative treatment. Our attempt of mind-body technique telerehabilitation has shown good results in the improvement of painful symptoms and quality of life for the FM patients but showed fewer positive impacts for the resilience and coping abilities aspects.

e-Health Interventions Targeting Pain-Related Psychological Variables in Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review

“…Twenty-three studies focused exclusively on patients with FMS [29,30,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. Three studies included mixed-population groups, but at least 50% of FMS patients were included [28,31,40].…”

“…duration each), where each consisted of an initial presentation (or participatory summary of the previous session), a review of experiences after practicing the proposed activities at home, a presentation of metaphors and practice of experiential exercises, scheduling of practice activities at home, reflections, and resolution of doubts and queries. Duration: 5 weeks Paolucci et al [53] Mind-body intervention to improve pain, function, and different pain-related psychological variables…”

Environmental Factors in the Rehabilitation Framework: Role of the One Health Approach to Improve the Complex Management of Disability

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, these approaches spread in clinical contexts as a result of the modifications of environmental factors requiring reduced contact between patients and healthcare professionals [ 80 ]. In this scenario, telemedicine and telerehabilitation could provide healthcare to patients affected by different diseases even from remote areas [ 81 , 82 , 83 ].…”

Relations between short-term memory and the within-subject variability of experimental pain intensity reports: Results from healthy and Fibromyalgia patients

“…It might be that these associations are clearer in chronic pain populations, in which memory ability might be compromised [53]. Future research is needed to identify if rehabilitative approaches, on top of their effects on pain, would positively affect memory or other cognitive functions [62][63][64][65].…”