A common feature of most fibromyalgia patients is widespread pain affecting a large area of the body.
This puzzling symptom is usually accompanied by morning stiffness, paresthesias in the hands and feet, such as tingling and numbness, trouble sleeping and above all a feeling of anxiety and fatigue that follows them throughout the day.
This fatigue contributes to fibromyalgia’s low tolerance to procedures that affect up to 90% of patients. This is why a study carried out by a team from the University of Granada,
and published in January 2011 in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, analyzed the patient’s resistance to the hand so that it could be used as a complementary tool for assessing the severity of fibromyalgia in women.
The objective was to determine the ability of the hand strength test to discriminate between the presence and absence of fibromyalgia and its severity in 81 affected women and 44 healthy women.
They measured the strength resistance in the hand with a maximal isometric strength test, using a hand dynamometer. The women were classified according to the score obtained in the following categories: moderate fibromyalgia (<70) and severe fibromyalgia (70 or more). The results observed are as follows:
The resistance threshold in the hand that best distinguishes the presence and absence of fibromyalgia was 23.1 kg.
The threshold that best distinguishes between severe and moderate fibromyalgia is 16.9 kg.
A hand strength of 23.1 kg or less was associated with a 33.8 times higher likelihood of suffering from fibromyalgia after the age limit.
In the fibromyalgia group, hand strength of 16.9 kg or less was associated with a 5.3 times greater likelihood of having severe fibromyalgia.
The findings presented by these researchers are as follows: Resistance to hand strength is reduced in women with fibromyalgia as well as in those with severe fibromyalgia relative to their partners with moderate fibromyalgia. They also suggest that women who do not conform to these proposed standards can help the doctor make a correct diagnosis,
as it will be used as a useful and informative tool. Have you noticed that you have less resistance and strength in your hands than your friends/family? In what aspects of daily life is a disability?
We hope you will share with us your impressions that we will send to our patients.
