The effect of chiropractic thoracic manipulation on pain, depression, sleep and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of thoracic chiropractic high-velocity low-amplitude (HVLA) manipulations on pain intensity, depression level, sleep and quality of life in female individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Our study was conducted with 50 voluntary female participants aged 25-45 years. In this study, 50 individuals who were diagnosed with fibromyalgia by a physician between 2022-2023, who applied to Istanbul Kardelen Special Education Application School 1st Level, who had pain and limitation of movement in the thoracic region as a result of physical examination were randomly divided into 2 groups. A chiropractic group of 25 volunteer participants and a control group of 25 volunteer participants were formed. All participants were given the Visceral Pain Scale (VAS), Widespread Pain Index (GPI), Symptom Severity Scale (SSS), Beck Depression Scale (BDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Short Form 36 (SF-36) to fill out before treatment. The chiropractic treatment group received thoracic manipulation (HVLA) 6 times in a total of 3 weeks, twice a week, while the control group received sham manipulation 6 times in a total of 3 weeks, twice a week. All participants filled out the scales again 1 week after the last application. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 29.0 IB program. At the end of the stufy, it was observed that thoracic chiropractic HVLA manipulations led to significant and positively measurable differences compared to sham manipulations. It was found that thoracic chiropractic manipulations reduced the widespread pain areas, symptom severity, pain and depression levels of fibromyalgia patients, while improving sleep and quality of life. However, further studies are needed to determine the long-term effects of chiropractic manipulation treatment to support its effectiveness.