Nonphysician practitioner treatments and fibromyalgia syndrome

Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) are high consumers of alternative medical interventions and frequently consult nonphysician practitioners. Although individuals may express satisfaction with alternative treatment methods, their effect upon symptoms and outcome of FM is not known. We compare symptom reporting and functional status in patients with FM being treated or not being treated by nonphysician practitioners.

82 patients with FM enrolled in a cross sectional study were divided into current users (n = 33) and nonusers (n = 49) of nonphysician practitioner treatment over the preceding 6 months. Included were treatments by physiotherapists and psychologists, as well as all categories of alternative practitioners. The measurements studied were a patient global assessment of disease severity on a 100 mm visual analog scale (VAS), a physician global assessment on a 100 mm VAS, the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ).

There were no differences for the FIQ, HAQ, or patient or physician global severity scores for users and nonusers of nonphysician practitioner treatments. The total number of health care professional visits in the preceding 6 months was higher for users than nonusers (27.0 vs 9.3; p < 0.001), although physician visits did not differ (9.0 vs 9.3).

Patients with FM who had been treated by nonphysician practitioners during the preceding 6 months reported similar pain and functional impairment to those not receiving treatments.