Background/Purpose: Fibromyalgia is a chronic debilitating musculoskeletal pain syndrome that causes substantial physical and psychological impairments. With the release of the 2016 revised EULAR recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia, there is a growing interest in developing new exercise program aiming to improve patients’ physical function and wellbeing. The Eight Brocades (EB) is an eight-section Qigong physical exercise, originated more than eight-hundred years ago in China, and it has been used by people to improving their general health or existing health issues. Lu Eight Brocades (LEB) is a modified EB, adapted by Chinese Medicine Master Zhi-zheng Lu, which is specifically tailored for patients with rheumatic diseases and is simple and easy to learn. The clinical study reported here was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of LEB in the management of fibromyalgia in Chinese patients in China.

Methods: In this randomized blank-control study, 62 patients with fibromyalgia were assigned to LEB or control group by computer using the SAS system with a ratio of 1:1. Trained and guided by LEB certified physicians, patients practiced LEB one hour, twice a week for 12 weeks in GUAN AN MEN hospital. The primary outcome measure is Visual Analogue Scales for pain (pain VAS), and the secondary outcomes include the followings: Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Tender Points Count (TP). The outcome measures were assessed at baseline and at the end of week 4, 8, 12. As compensation, patients in blank-control group received LEB training for additional 12 weeks after the end of the study. Statistical analyses were conducted by a statistician using intention to treat analysis set.

Results: Sixty-two subjects were mostly women (55, 87.7%), mean age was 51.2 years (SD 10.6 years, range: 29-69 years), and mean duration was 32.1 months (SD 26.3 months, range: 4-128 months). At the baseline, there were no significant differences on demographics and disease characteristics between LEB and control groups. At the week 4, except for BDI and PSS, improvement of pain VAS, FIQR, MAF, PSQI, and TP were greater in LEB group compared to those in the control group (Ps ≤0.046). At week 8, all above the measures further improved in LEB group than those in control group (Ps ≤0.033). At the week 12, all the outcome measures were improved in LEB group compared with control (Ps ≤0.004). There were no complaints about side effects of LEB exercise during the study period using the side-effect report form.

Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrated the effectiveness of physician-guided LEB practice for 12 weeks in improving all spectrum of debilitation symptoms and the feeling of wellbeing in fibromyalgia participants. The study suggests LEB exercise could be a potential valuable nonpharmacological treatment for patients with fibromyalgia, thus warrants for further larger scale investigations.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/is-lu-eight-brocades-exercise-beneficial-for-patients-with-fibromyalgia/