Study on the effect of spa treatments for fibromyalgia

Caroline Maindet et al.

August 2022

Spa Therapies

The study was an open-label, randomized clinical trial comparing immediate versus delayed 18-day spa treatment in 220 patients with fibromyalgia in five spa facilities in France. Patients were randomized and stratified according to the severity of fibromyalgia and previous spa treatment. The main endpoint was the number of patients who achieved a minimal clinically important difference after 6 months.

The results showed that 45.0% of patients in the immediate therapy group achieved this compared to 28.3% in the delayed therapy group. In addition, the intervention group showed significant improvements in pain, fatigue and symptom severity, but not in overall quality of life, sleep or physical activity. No serious adverse events were reported in connection with the spa treatment.

Overall , the study demonstrates the benefits of spa treatment for fibromyalgia patients and shows a clinically significant improvement after 6 months that lasted up to 12 months.

The most important information on the study at a glance

Indications: Fibromyalgia
Institution: Pain Medicine Department, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Title: Study on the effect of spa treatments for fibromyalgia
Brief description: The study shows that a spa treatment significantly improves pain, fatigue and severity of symptoms after 6 months.
Original title: Spa Therapy for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia: An Open, Randomized Multicenter Trial
Link to the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33677113/