Abstract
Background Altered balance is a common and debilitating symptom of fibromyalgia. Previous studies have investigated balance under single-task conditions that do not reflect real-life situations. The present study evaluated the impact of a simultaneous cell-phone conversation on balance performance in a case-control cohort from Spain. Methods A cross-sectional case-control study was performed in 34 women recruited from local self-help organizations and university facilities (n = 18 fibromyalgia cases; n = 16 healthy, pain-free controls). Participants performed the 30 s postural stability test, as implemented in the Biodex Balance System, under two conditions: (a) as a single task and (b) as a dual task, i.e., while holding a simultaneous cell-phone conversation with a technician. Intergroup differences in dual task costs were calculated. Findings Compared with controls, women with fibromyalgia showed higher dual-task costs in balance variables, such as overall sway (pp value = 0.039) and anterior/posterior sway (p value = 0.007). In the dual-task condition, overall (p value = 0.004) and anterior/posterior (p value = 0.012) sway indices significantly decreased in women with fibromyalgia but not in controls. Interpretation In women with fibromyalgia, balance performance was adversely impacted by the holding of a simultaneous cell-phone conversation. The inability to conduct two tasks simultaneously may be related to reduced attention and may increase the risk of falling in this population.
Highlights
Women with fibromyalgia report poor health-related quality of life and a decreased ability to perform the activities of daily living [1, 2]. is may result from the multitude of potential fibromyalgia symptoms, which include pain, stiffness, fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, poor cardiovascular fitness, cognitive impairments, memory and attentional deficits, depression/ anxiety, and poor balance [3,4,5].Altered balance is one of the ten most common and debilitating symptoms of fibromyalgia [6]
Women without fibromyalgia, who were matched in terms of age, participated in the present study. ey were recruited in the University facilities or were close to patients
Discussion e main finding of the present study was that a cell-phone conversation had a significant impact on the Dual-task cost (DTC) of the overall sway index and the anterior/posterior sway index of women with fibromyalgia when compared with agematched controls
Summary
Women with fibromyalgia report poor health-related quality of life and a decreased ability to perform the activities of daily living [1, 2]. is may result from the multitude of potential fibromyalgia symptoms, which include pain, stiffness, fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, poor cardiovascular fitness, cognitive impairments, memory and attentional deficits, depression/ anxiety, and poor balance [3,4,5]. To render the evaluation of physical function more ecological and representative of real-life conditions, previous authors have proposed the simultaneous performance of two tasks, such as walking while holding a conversation [10, 11]. Women with fibromyalgia may not display hypervigilance for a somatosensory stimuli under dual-task condition [12], previous studies have evaluated the impact of a simultaneous cognitive or affective task on motor task performance in women with fibromyalgia [13,14,15,16]. E aim of the present cross-sectional study was to evaluate the impact of a simultaneous cell-phone conversation on balance performance in women with fibromyalgia and healthy pain-free controls
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