Feasibility and Efficacy of Craniosacral Therapy on Sleep Quality in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: a Pre-Post Pilot Trial

Background: Sleep disturbance is one of the key symptoms of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), which negatively affects the participants’ quality of life. Cranio-sacral therapy (CST) is a gentle manual technique found to have significant effects on pain and function in chronic pain participants. However, limited evidence exists on its effectiveness on sleep quality in FMS participants. Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of CST on sleep quality in FMS participants. Setting: Outpatient physiotherapy department of a hospital in Bangalore. Participants: Participants diagnosed with FMS. Research Design: A pre/post pilot trial. Intervention: Once weekly, 45-minute sessions of CST for 12 weeks. The participants continued the standard medical care prescribed by the physician. Main Outcome Measure: The sleep quality was evaluated using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) at baseline and 12 weeks. The data analysis was carried out using paired t test. Results: 9 out of 10 included participants completed the treatment and were included for analysis. The results of the paired t test showed significant improvement in the global PSQI score (p =.001, mean difference = 5.44±3.28, 95% CI = 2.92-7.97), as well as the 5 components of PSQI (p <.05). Conclusion: CST was feasible to deliver with high retention, acceptability, and minimal adverse events. It significantly improved sleep quality in FMS participants along with standard medical care. How-ever, future studies with larger sample sizes and appropriate control groups are required to confirm the findings.