Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic diffuse pain condition which is associated with pain, fatigue, stiffness, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, and cognitive difficulties. Biodanza is an integrative dance therapy that combines motor, sensory, and effective exercises performed at low intensity/speed; it can be hypothesized that this complementary approach may have positive effects in persons with FM.
Biodanza is a useful therapy for the fibromyalgia management; however, there is no evidence of its effectiveness on acute pain.

The study was based on a 3-month low-moderate intensity (rate of perceived exertion around 12, based on a 6-20 point scale) Biodanza intervention (1 session/week). It was conducted with a purpose to assess the changes in acute pain severity (before vs after the session) and increasing pain severity in women with fibromyalgia through 3-month Biodanza program. It also aimed to analyse the associations of acute pain severity reduction with pre-session pain severity, body fat percentage, and satisfaction with the session.

27 women with fibromyalgia (54.2 ± 6.2 years) participated in the study. For the assessment of pain severity before and after each single session was done with a visual analog scale.

Immediate changes were noticed in all sessions (p = .001-.028), except in the first, second, and fourth sessions. On a whole 16% reduction was found in acute pain severity before and after each session (mean presession pain vs. postsession pain, 5.8 ± 2.1 vs. 4.9 ± 2.4; respectively). Independent association of pain severity reduction (presession–postsession) with presession pain severity (unstandardized coefficient B = .21 ± .05; standardized coefficient β = .25; p < .001), body fat percentage (B = −.05 ± .02; β = −.18; p = .003), and satisfaction with the session (B = .40 ± .15; β = .16; p = .007). Significant cumulative effect decrease was estimated in postsession pain severity (p < .001; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −.14, −.05) and presession–postsession pain severity (p = .007; 95% CI = .02, .12) along the 3-month intervention. No significant cumulative effect was noted in presession pain severity (p > .05).

The study concludes that Biodanza is an alternative therapy that decreases acute pain severity in women with fibromyalgia. The intervention also demonstrated cumulative pain severity reduction, which was found higher in women with fibromyalgia presenting higher presession pain severity and lower body fat percentage. The satisfaction due to the session was also a key factor which was positively associated with reduction in pain.