Therapeutic physical exercise and supplements to treat fibromyalgia

Introduction

The prevalence of fibromyalgia in developed countries is over 2.1%. Nowadays, there is no effective treatment for it and different mitigating treatments such as therapeutic exercise are performed instead. In recent years, supplements have also emerged.

Objectives

To review and update the evidence on treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms with therapeutic physical exercise and supplements. To achieve this, treatment application times and the duration of treatment programs will be considered.

Methods

A bibliographic search was carried out on Pubmed database. As a result, 695 studies on therapeutic exercise and 53 on supplements were found. From these, 18 therapeutic exercise studies and 8 supplements studies were selected. They were all chosen and assessed according to their methodological quality, which was measured using the PEDro scale.

Results

Evidence showed that pain and quality of life are improved by the practice of almost any type of physical activity and the intake of Q10 coenzyme or vitamin D supplements. Sleep quality is enhanced by combination of physical exercise and relaxation. Depression, anxiety and mood are improved by the performance of aerobic, flexibility exercises and aquatic biodance.

Conclusions

Therapeutic physical exercise and supplements may be an interesting alternative or complement when treating some fibromyalgia symptoms.