Ultraviolet light may help relieve pain in fibromyalgia syndrome patients, according to a preliminary study at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center conducted by dermatology, rheumatology, and public health sciences researchers.
A report on the study appears in the January issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Steven R. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Dermatology Research at Wake Forest Baptist, said that this study was an outgrowth of a previous tanning addiction study in which participants reported anecdotally some improvement in their back pain.
"We decided to look at fibromyalgia patients because there is such a big need for treatment," Feldman said. "We knew from the tanning addiction study that the UV light was doing something for participants beyond the obvious."
The recent study included 19 fibromyalgia patients who were exposed to both UV and non-UV rays in tanning beds for two weeks. Then they were divided into UV and non-UV groups for the next four weeks. All of the fibromyalgia patients received light treatments three times a week for a total of six weeks.
The participants were treated with sunless tanning lotions to tan all participants because tanning might have indicated which group was receiving exposure to UV light. They were asked to report on their levels of pain as well as their moods. UV exposure resulted in limited improvement in pain, well-being and relaxation compared with the non-UV group.
"People in the UV group reported a modest improvement," Feldman said. "This was a small study and may indicate the need for a larger study."
Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness in localized areas of the neck, torso and extremities. In addition to pain, patients can experience stiffness, fatigue, sleep disturbances and other symptoms. Other pain syndromes, such as irritable bowel syndrome or migraine headaches, are seen in individuals affected by fibromyalgia. The majority of the three to six million people who have fibromyalgia are women.