Comparison of the effects of connective tissue massage and taping on pain, depression and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia

This study was conducted with 34 fibromyalgia patients (mean age: 34.41±7.74 years, M/F=10/24 years) to evaluate the effects of connective tissue massage and taping on pain, depression and quality of life. In our study, VAS and McGill Pain Scale were used to determine the severity of pain before and after the treatment, Beck's Depression Scale was used to evaluate the depression status, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and SF-36 Quality of Life Scale were used to determine the disability and quality of life of fibromyalgia patients. Statistical analysis was performed with SPPS version 21.0. As a result of our study, significant results were found on pain, depression and quality of life of both treatment methods in patients (p<0.05). According to the VAS evaluation of the patients who were treated with connective tissue massage in the correlation analysis; Patients aged 25-35 showed statistically significantly higher improvement than patients aged 36 and over (p<0.05). In terms of patients who received taping treatment, the scores obtained from only the Energy/Vivacity/Vitality sub-dimensions of the SF-36 quality of life scale differed according to age before and after the treatment (p<0.05). Accordingly, the improvement of the patients in the 25-35 age group in terms of energy /vitality is statistically significantly higher than the older age group. In terms of patients who received taping treatment, the scores obtained from only the mental health sub-dimension of the SF-36 quality of life scale before and after the treatment differed according to the variable of smoking status, the improvement in mental health of the patients who declared that they did not smoke was higher than the patients who smoked. it was concluded that this difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). As a result, both applications have been successful in the treatment of fibromyalgia patients. Key words: Fibromyalgia, connective tissue massage, taping, pain