Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2001 , Vol 47 , Num 3

Fibromiyaljili Hastalarda Amitriptilin ve Lazer Tedavilerinin Etkinliklerinin Karşılaştırılması

Mehmet Karakoç 1 ,Ali Gür 2 ,Kemal Nas 1 ,Remzi Çevik 1 ,Ferda Erdoğan 3 ,Sevinç Coşut 4
1 Dicle Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Diyarbakır, Türkiye
2 Gaziantep Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Gaziantep, Türkiye
3 Dicle Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Diyarbakır
4 Dicle Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, Diyarbakır

Comparison of Efficacy of Amitriptyline and Laser Therapies in Patients with Fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread muskuloskeletal pain, fatigue, decreased pain threshold, sleep disturbance, and multiple tender points. Low energy lasers  are now widely used to treat a variety of musculoskeletal conditions including fibromyalgia despite the lack of scientific evidence to support its efficacy. The aim of the present study was to compare efficacy of amitriptyline and low laser  therapy in patients with fibromyalgia. Fourty two patients who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria for the classication of fibromyalgia were entered into a 8 weeks prospective single-blind, and randomized to 1 of  2 groups: Amitriptyline and laser. Patients assigned to the amitriptyline group took 10 mg. daily at bedtime through the eight weeks. The patients in the second group received laser for two minutes at each tender points daily for two weeks, except weekends. The parameters used for the assessment: pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, total tender point numbers, skinfold tenderness, muscle spasm, morning stiffness. In both treatment groups significant improvements were achieved in all outcome parameters (p<0.05) except fatigue in amitriptyline group (p>0.05). Pain and morning stiffness of the parameters the differences between two groups were statisticaly in favor of the laser   therapy (p<0.05). Our resultssuggest that both amitriptyline and laser therapies are effective in fibromyalgia and suggest that the Ga-As laser therapy method is a safe and effective way of treatment in the cases with fibromyalgia.

Keywords : Fibromyalgia, amitriptyline, lazer