The use of myofasial release in fibromyalgia: scope analysis

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to map the available contributions on the use of myofascial release as an auxiliary therapeutic strategy in fibromyalgia. Methods: It is a scoping review (scope review) of the indexed and non-indexed scientific literature (gray area), in the SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) databases; LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences); PubMed; PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database); and in the “gray area of literature” through the search engine Google Scholar, by the combination of keywords “myofascial release" AND “fibromyalgia”, without restrictions on year of publication, language, or any other restriction. Results:The corpus totaled eight articles, predominantly occurring at PubMed, outlined in clinical trials, carried out in Spain, diagnosed with fibromyalgia according to the criteria of Wolfe et al. (1990), with an outcome related to “quality of life” and “pain”.Conclusion: It is concluded that, in general, the studies available on myofascial release as an auxiliary therapeutic strategy in fibromyalgia indicate positive results for the various outcomes investigated, although there are few studies on the theme, explaining a significant gap in the national and international academic-scientific context.