Background:

Fibromyalgia (FM) as a considerable pain that can last for maximum three months and pain on palpation of minimum 11 of the body's 18 specific tender points. Rheumatologic criteria (WPI and SS) was used and it directly impact 1.3% to 8% of the overall population.

Objective:

To compare the efficacy of active segmental stretching and 30-minute walking on the reduction symptoms and to check the quality of life in fibromyalgia symptoms.

Methodology:

A randomized controlled trail was conducted on 62 participants diagnosed with fibromyalgia by ACR or in outpatient clinics in THQ Aziz Bhatti hospital Gujrat. Females were placed arbitrary into active segmental stretching group (N=31) and 30 min walking group (N=31). Each intervention was performed thrice a week for first three weeks and four time per week for the next three weeks. The outcome measures were FIQR for FM symptoms, SF-12 Health survey for quality of life and NPRS for pain assessment in patients. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 25 and significant value was less than 0.05 (p<0.05).

Results:

It showed active segmental stretching group had more prominent improvements at 3rd and 6th week, according to their mean ± standard deviation values for FIQR, SF-12 and NPRS as compared to control group. The between groups effects with outcome measures had significant effects for SF-12 (p= 0.044, p= 0.046) while FIQR and NPRS showed non-significant effect, with overall significance for both interventions (partial ɳ2 =0.19, p= 0.013). The within subject effect with time period showed remarkably significant (p<0.001) results for all measures with 95% effect size (ɳ2 =0.95). The interaction of different time period with experimental and control group were also effectively significant (p< 0.001) for all measures with 76% effect size (ɳ,2 =0.76), respectively.

Conclusion:

Both interventions were appropriate for fibromyalgia. But, active segmental stretching exercise program showed more significant improvements in FM patient by decreasing its symptoms and reducing pain at tender points of muscles, thus improving quality of life as compared to 30-minute walking program.

Keywords:

Fibromyalgia, physical activity, pain, active stretching, walking