Clinical rheumatology
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Clinical rheumatology · Mar 2007
Randomized Controlled TrialAction potential simulation (APS) in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS): a controlled single subject experimental design.
Action potential simulation (APS) is becoming a popular method of pain reduction. Nevertheless, little is known about the efficacy of this relatively new treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate whether APS helps to reduce pain, improves patients' perception of daily functioning and social participation in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). ⋯ In this single-case study with ten patients (all female), APS was not a helpful method to reduce pain, to improve patients' perception of daily functioning and social participation in patients with FMS.
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Clinical rheumatology · Mar 2007
Age as a predicting factor in the therapy outcome of multidisciplinary treatment of patients with chronic low back pain--a prospective longitudinal clinical study in 405 patients.
This prospective longitudinal clinical study evaluates the prognostic value of age in the therapy outcome of patients with chronic low back pain treated with a multidisciplinary therapy. Four hundred five patients with chronic low back pain for 3 months or longer and a corresponding sick leave for longer than 6 weeks underwent a 3-week standardized multidisciplinary therapy. Patients were assigned into three groups of age with comparable baseline values at T0. ⋯ In the total group, the back-to-work rate was 61.7%. At the final follow-up, there were significantly better results in terms of functional capacity and pain level in younger patients, whereas back-to-work rate and satisfaction with therapy did not show a significant difference between the groups analysed. According to the results of this study, older patients with chronic low back pain also derive significant benefit from a multidisciplinary treatment strategy, although in some outcome criteria results were inferior to those obtained in younger patients.