In people (between 18 and 65 years old) diagnosed with fibromyalgia, the active and sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improved health status, pain catastrophising, and depression when compared to the control group. However, pain intensity was reduced only in the active tDCS group, as per the findings of a randomized, triple-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial.

Researchers undertook this study to investigate efficacy of tDCS combined with exercising for   fibromyalgia management. The study recruited 120 volunteers suffering from fibromyalgia. In total, 4 volunteers dropped out of study for causes not related to the intervention. Participants were randomly segregated into active tDCS+exercising, sham tDCS+exercising, and no-intervention control. The intervention was delivered in 5 sessions over 2 weeks. The pain intensity and referred pain area after suprathreshold pressure stimulation were the major endpoints ascertained.

The pain intensity further dropped in the active tDCS group when compared to the control group (mean -14.43) at post-intervention, unlike the sham tDCS group. Both the tDCS groups did not attain a higher decrease in referred pain when compared to the control group. In the active tDCS group, the health status (mean -14.80) and pain catastrophising (mean -6.68) improved at post-intervention, and so did depression (mean -3.52), health status (mean -8.81), and pain catastrophising (mean -7.00) following 1 month.

In the sham tDCS group, improvements were noted in health status (mean -13.21) and depression (mean -3.35) at post-intervention and in health status (mean -8.77), pain catastrophising (mean -5.68), and depression (mean -3.98) following one month. No intergroup differences were noted between sham and active tDCS.

Hence, the addition of tDCS to exercising may be beneficial to minimize pain intensity in individuals having fibromyalgia.