Fibromyalgia is a chronic disease characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain
associated with a range of somatic symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, and
somatic and cognitive symptoms.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of classical massage on pain,
fibromyalgia severity and quality of life in fibromyalgia patients.
The research will be carried out with 75 patients with fibromyalgia who refer to Artvin
State Hospital Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation outpatient clinic. The patients will
be grouped in 3 through simple randomization: trapezius group, foot group and control
group. Fibromyalgia patients coming to the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Unit will
be met and informed about the research. Written informed consent will be obtained from
patients who agree to participate in the study. VAS will be applied to each patient
coming to the outpatient clinic and their fulfilment of the inclusion criteria will be
determined. Patient information form, FIQR and SF-36 quality of life scale will be
applied.
The patients intrapezius group will be given classical massage to the trapezius muscle
for 6 weeks, 2 sessions per week (12 sessions in total) by the researcher in the physical
therapy unit.
The patients in foot group will be given foot massage for 6 weeks, 2 sessions per week
(12 sessions in total) by the researcher in the physical therapy unit.
Patients in control group will not receive massage. Patients in all three groups will be
questioned about their pain with VAS once a week throughout the study.
Pain follow-up of the patients in trapezius massage and foot massage groups will be
performed 48 hours after the massage.
Pain Scale, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and SF36 Quality of Life Scale will be
administered to the patients in all groups at the end of 6 weeks (post-test). The final
test measurements of the participants in trapezius massage and foot massage groups will
be made 48 hours after the massage.
Statistical analyses will be performed using the SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 23) package
program. Shapiro-Wilk or Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness of fit tests and graphical methods
will be used to test whether the distributions of numerical variables conform to the
normal distribution. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation will be
given for numerical variables with normal distribution. For numerical variables that do
not show normal distribution, descriptive statistics such as median, interquartile
distribution range, minimum and maximum will be given. Categorical variables will be
presented with frequency and percentage values. Whether there is a difference between
categorical variables will be examined by Chi-square (χ2) test. Whether there is a
difference in terms of the measurements taken in the three groups and at the two times
will be examined by repeated measures two-way ANOVA, if assumptions are met. If the terms
interaction are meaningful, we need to examine them separately between groups and within
the group. The difference between the groups will be examined with the appropriate ANOVA
or Kruskal-Wallis tests. The difference within each group will be examined with the
paired-sample t test or Wilcoxon tests, as appropriate. Measurements will be taken for 6
weeks for the VAS score. Whether there is a difference in VAS score within each group
will be examined with one-way analysis of variance or Friedman tests, as appropriate.
Statistical significance level will be accepted as p<0.05.