title: Effectiveness of Tai-Chi for decreasing acute pain in fibromyalgia patients.
abstract: Tai-Chi has shown benefits in physical and psychological outcomes in diverse populations. We aimed to determine the changes elicited by a Tai-Chi program (12 and 24 weeks) in acute pain (before vs. after session) in fibromyalgia patients. We also assessed the cumulative changes in pain brought about by a Tai-Chi program. Thirty-six patients (29 women) with fibromyalgia participated in a low-moderate intensity Tai-Chi program for 12 weeks (3 sessions/week). Twenty-eight patients (27 women) continued the program for an additional 12 weeks (i. e., 24 weeks). We assessed pain by means of a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) before and after each single session (i. e., 72 sessions). We observed significant immediate changes (P-values from 0.037 to 0.0001) with an approximately 12% mean decrease of acute pain in the comparison of VAS-values before and after each session (72 sessions in total), with the exception of 4 sessions. We observed significant changes in cumulative pain pre-session (95% CI=-0.019; -0.014; P<0.001) and cumulative pain post-session (95% CI=-0.021; -0.015; P<0.001) along the 24-week intervention only. In conclusion, a low-moderate intensity Tai-Chi program for 12 weeks (3 times/week) decreased levels of acute pain in fibromyalgia patients. A longer period is necessary (e. g. 24 weeks) for observing cumulative changes in pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sports, School of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Segura-Jiménez
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sports, School of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romero-Zurita
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sports, School of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carbonell-Baeza
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy and School of Sports -Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Aparicio
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sports, School of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sports, School of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delgado-Fernández
mesh_terms: D059787:Acute Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D026302:Tai Ji; D016896:Treatment Outcome