Talk Therapy and Exercise as Fibromyalgia Treatment Options

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that patients with fibromyalgia may benefit from exercise and talking with a therapist once a week on the phone.

The study, which has close to 450 subjects were put into four groups for he study trial. The first group received “talk therapy” once a week via telephone, the second group engaged in exercise, the third group had both talk therapy and exercise and the forth group maintained their previous and usual treatment. All of the subjects reported experiencing chronic pain which is symptomatic of fibromyalgia.

Talk therapy sessions via telephone were conducted for 30-45 minutes once a week for seven weeks and then again at three months and six months after the start of the study. Research has shown that therapy provided by phone is as effective as face to face therapy.

Exercise sessions lasted from 20 minutes to one hour at least twice per week and subjects were invited to work with a personal trainer.

The results of the study were as follows:
• Phone therapy and exercise patients and patients who did both showed more improvement than patients who stayed with their regular treatment modality.
• Subjects who engaged in both therapy and exercise showed slightly better improvement than those who only did one or the other.

Currently there are three approved drugs to treat the chronic pain that accompanies fibromyalgia, Cymbalta, Savella and Lyrica. None of these medications have been successful at treating the other symptoms of fibromyalgia.

While this study shows the success of cognitive therapy for fibromyalgia treatment, several factors may prevent patients from seeking or receiving this type of care. These factors include inadequate insurance coverage, not enough therapists trained to deal with chronic pain issues, lack of reimbursement to therapists from insurance companies making them hesitant to offer this treatment, and physicians focusing on medical treatment due to lack of education of therapy benefits.

Exercise has long been shown to help pain by releasing endorphins into the blood stream as well as helping a person maintain good overall health. This study shows how even 20 minutes of exercise twice a week can be beneficial to fibromyalgia patients.

Both of these treatment modalities should be considered for comprehensive care of fibromyalgia treatments.