Resseguier Method Reduces Neuromuscular Hyper-Excitability and Clinimetric Parameters in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Background and aim Recent reviews shows that Mind Body Therapies are effective to reduce the majority of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) symptoms. Rességuier Method (RM) is a MBT that aims to obtain patient nonjudgmental awareness and control of bodily perceptions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of RM on neuromuscular hyperexcitability (NMH), assessed by ischemia-hyperpnea test (IHT), and on FMS clinical and clinimetric parameters. Patients and Methods Fifty-nine patients (pts), 54 women and 5 men, age 50.33±12.15, were treated with RM, 1 hour once a week for 8 weeks. At baseline (T0) and at the end of RM treatment (T1) they were evaluated for NMH by IHT. According to IHT results, pts were rated as negative or positive. They were also assessed for pain (Numeric Rating Scale – NRS Pain and Regional Pain Scale – RPS-), disability (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire –FIQ- and Health Assessment Questionnaire-HAQ-), health related quality of life (SF-36) mood disorders (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-HADS-), sleep quality (NRS Sleep) and fatigue (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy -FACIT- Fatigue). Results At baseline, IHT was negative in 7 (11.86%) FMS pts and positive in 52 (88.14%) , while after RM treatment it resulted negative in 28 (47.46%) pts and positive in 31 (52.54%) . Our results show significant improvement for pin, RPS, FIQ, HAQ, HADS, sleep quality, FACIT-f, SF_36 Summary Mental Index (SMI) and Summary Physical Index (SPI) (p<0.01 for all the items). Conclusions We found a high prevalence of NMH in FMS patients, as assessed by IHT. We confirmed the efficacy of RM on clinimetric measures of FMS symptoms. Moreover, we showed the RM efficacy on NMH that, according to our results, could be considered as one of the therapeutic targets in FMS chronic pain.