Study of the Effect of a Postural Exercise Program in Women With Fibromyalgia: a Randomized Clinical Trial

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a multisystemic disease, characterized by generalized chronic musculoskeletal pain. In addition, it is usually accompanied by fatigue, sleep disorders, morning stiffness, cognitive disorders, depression, anxiety and stress. Other common symptoms are back pain, headaches, irritable bowel, balance problems and deterioration of physical function.

It constitutes the second most common rheumatic 36 disorder after osteoarthritis, with a prevalence of 2.9% in Europe and a fivefold times greater incidence among women than men.

Patients with FMS have pain at specific pressure points known as "tender points", with increased sensitivity to painful stimuli (hyperalgesia) and a decreased pain threshold (allodynia), in the absence of abnormalities in the biological or imaging tests. These tender points constitute the basis of the most sensitive and specific criteria for the diagnosis of the disease, this is, the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology. Accordingly, women presenting at least 11 of 18 tender points are diagnosed with FMS.

The etiology of FMS remains unclear. However, the generalized hyperalgesia, widespread pain and spontaneous pain in FMS have been related to central changes, and many studies support a major role for central sensitization in the generation of the symptoms of FMS.

Since it is a chronic disease, the care of this type of patients represents a significant economic burden. They have great health care resource requirements in both direct medical care and indirect costs of staff absenteeism. For these reasons, it is considered a major problem with a great impact on the health system, and therefore more and more studies are being developed with the aim of better understanding the pathophysiology of this disease.