Abstract
Fibromyalgia is a complex syndrome with unknown etiology, characterized by the presence of chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain, having the reduction of the physical/ functional performance as a major comorbidity. Pharmacological treatment of fibromyalgia presents limited effectiveness, making it important to use non-pharmacological therapies, such as physical activity. This study proposes the investigation of environmental enrichment (EE), a technique based on physical, sensory and cognitive stimulation, and physical activity (PA) as strategies for fibromyalgia prevention. To this end, 24 male Wistar rats were divided into five intervention groups: 1) EE, 2) PA, 3) EE + PA and 4) control. The animals were maintained for 4 weeks in the adapted cages. After that, chronic diffuse muscle pain was induced through dual injections of acidic saline in the left gastrocnemius muscle. Mechanical paw withdrawal threshold (digital analgesymeter), thermal threshold (hot plate) and motor activity (rota rod) were assessed in six moments: baseline, after the 1st, 2nd, 3th and 4th weeks and after induction. The animals kept in the environmental enrichment associated with physical activity (EE + PA) showed a significant increase in mechanical and thermal thresholds after the third (P < 0.001) and second (P < 0.002) weeks, respectively, when compared to the other groups. This increase remained at the post-induction assessment, while the other groups showed a significant decrease (P < 0.01), suggesting the development of hyperalgesia. In the motor test, the EA + AF group showed a significant increase in performance from the first week when compared to the other groups (P < 001), keeping the increase even after induction, while in the other groups there was a significant decrease in performance (P < 0.01). These results suggest an association between environmental enrichment and physical activity as a preventive strategy for chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia.
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