Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of weight training on pain relief and
fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia (FM).
Methods: This study was a randomized control study on patients diagnosed with FM. The group of
FM patients was subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Randomization was done on the
patients who have met the inclusion criteria by the Department of Biostatistics at the University of The
Free State. The experimental group was subjected to a training programme under supervision while
the control group received verbal instructions to follow a training programme and the benefits thereof
(Glombiewski et al., 2010), but did not undergo supervised training.
The training period was 12 weeks. The subjects maintained their ordinary daily chores and physical
activity. The experimental group started a supervised strength training period. Training was carried
out 3 times a week and. During the first 3 weeks patients started with 8 - 12 repetitions for each set,
with loads of 40 â 60% of the one repetition maximum (1 RM) and continued during the next 4 weeks
with 10 â 12 repetitions with loads of 60 â 70% of 1 RM. Subsequently, during week 8 â 12 the
number of repetitions was 10 for each set with loads of 60 â 80% of 1 RM. In addition to the muscle
strengthening exercises each session ended with 5 â 10 minutes of core strengthening. All training
sessions included warm up and cool down exercises using either a treadmill or bicycle ergometer and
muscle stretching. Moreover, the subjects continued their ordinary chores and physical activities. The
patients did a 15 minute warm up consisting of 10 minutes light aerobic work followed by 30 â 40
minutes weight training followed by 10 â 15 minutes of cool down. The programme differed from a
Monday, to a Wednesday, to a Friday, where different muscle groups were targeted by the weight
training.
Results: The anthropometric characteristics in the current study for the exercise and control group
are very similar. The Student T-Test was used to test for significant differences between the control
and experimental group Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) scores over the 12 weeks. A 95%
confidence interval was used to determine the difference between the two groups. The confidence
interval shows that there is no statistical difference between the FM experimental (FMT) and FM
control group (FMC). The following variable, V = FIQ: W4-W1 is where the FIQ score of week 4 were
subtracted from week 1. No statistical difference (p<0.05) was observed between the control and the
exersice group between week 1 and 4. The exercise groupâs progress was statistically better (p<0.05)
than control group in week 4 - 8. At week 8 the FMT groupâs fibromyalgia impact questionnaire score
median was 39 compared to the FMC groupâs median of 63. Unfortunately, the exercise group
deteriorated statistically significant (p<0.05) in the FIQ scores compared to control group improvement
from week 8 â 12. Lastly, there was no statistical difference (p<0.05) between week 1 and week 12
between the FM control group and the exersise group regarding improvement of symptoms as
reported in the FM impact questionnaire.
Conclusions: It is still unclear what combination of type, intensity and duration of exercise treatment
works best in the treatment of FM. It is important to recognize that in the case of a chronic pain disorder like FM, treatment must be focused not just on immediate symptom relief but also on
maintaining long term lifestyle behaviour. As long as FM aetiology remains unclear, there is a need to
explore mediating variables that can be used to intervene in order to ameliorate symptoms. Research
efforts must continue to explore methods to relieve symptoms short term and support ongoing long
term behaviour change to improve functioning and enhance the quality of life for patients with FM.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-07042014-130016 |
| Date | 04 July 2014 |
| Creators | Coetzer, Gerhardus |
| Contributors | Dr L Holtzhausen, Dr FF Coetzee |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-07042014-130016/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0024 seconds