In an article in the Journal of Pain Research
Assistant Professor Fred Friedberg PhD and colleagues provided a
clinical overview of non-pharmacological treatments for fibromyalgia
with a focus on interventions that can be delivered to patients at home
using information technology. Observing that optimal management of
fibromyalgia involves education, exercise and cognitive behavioral
therapy in addition to medication, they concluded that the Internet may
be a way to make these non-pharmacological treatments more available.
Fibromyalgia
is a persistent and disabling condition characterized by pain and
tenderness throughout the body. It is often accompanied by chronic
fatigue, sleep disorders, depression or anxiety. Medications can help
about 40% of patients achieve a clinically significant reduction in pain
and non-pharmacological treatments have been shown to produce
comparable results, but few, if any, patients become completely free of
pain as the result of therapy.
In the article, which is titled
“Lifestyle-oriented non-pharmacological treatments for fibromyalgia: a
clinical overview and applications with home-based technologies”, the
authors described patient education programs, physical exercise regimens
and cognitive behavioral therapies that are commonly used in the
treatment of fibromyalgia and made practical recommendations for their
use. They noted though that the effectiveness of these interventions may
be limited by unrealistic patient expectations, patient burden and lack
of availability.
The authors suggested that modern information
technologies can help overcome these limitations by bringing
lifestyle-oriented interventions directly to patients in their homes.
After noting the effectiveness of ecological momentary interventions for
a variety of health conditions, they reviewed the recent literature on
the use of information technology for the treatment of fibromyalgia,
concluding with a review of an Internet intervention called SMARTLog
which is being adapted for use with patients with fibromyalgia.