How Understanding Pain Can Help You Manage Fibromyalgia

Credit: Adobe Stock/Goffkein

Learning more about pain can lead to better long-term outcomes for people living with fibromyalgia, according to research published in RMD Open: Rheumatic & Musculoskeletal Diseases. A team of Danish investigators used real-world data to explore how effective a two-day pain education program was for patients who had a high desire to understand their condition.

Patient education is designed to improve or maintain the knowledge, skills and attitudes of patients as well as to encourage the implementation of self-management lifestyles and behaviors. In short, it allows people to reach certain goals, such as reducing the perceived impact of their condition on day-to-day life.

“Pain education is recommended as first-line care for a variety of chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions, and meta-analyses indicate that pain education has clinical benefits, particularly when combined with exercise interventions,” wrote lead investigator Kirstine Amris, M.D., head of the Clinical Research Unit at the Parker Institute, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark.

This is backed up by previous research that has shown when patients with fibromyalgia better understand their own condition, they experience better pain relief and health care satisfaction.

The study followed 450 adults with fibromyalgia and a high self-reported need for pain education (as measured on a scale of 0 to 10 in which 0 meant no learning needs and 10 meant the highest possible need) who participated in the program. Patients were registered in the Danish Fibromyalgia registry (DANFIB) between January 2018 and November 2023.

After the sessions, participants rated how well their learning needs had been met. Those who reported a significant improvement in their understanding of pain were categorized as having a “good educational outcome.” In total, 121 (26.9%) of patients reported having a good educational outcome and 329 (73.1%) were placed in the comparator group.

Nine months later, investigators compared how fibromyalgia was affecting participants’ daily lives using a standard measure called the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Revised (FIQR). Other outcomes included the overall symptom burden, the severity of symptoms, functional ability, pain self-efficacy, pain sensitivity and the ability to cope with pain.

Results showed that those who had learned the most showed significantly better clinical outcomes, with less impact from fibromyalgia symptoms, compared with those who didn’t feel their education needs were fully met.

While the difference in scores may seem small, it was statistically meaningful and shows that education isn’t just empowering — it may actually improve how people feel and function over time.

Although the study used real-world data to explore the impact of pain education on fibromyalgia, investigators pointed to some limitations. Because it wasn’t a randomized clinical trial, researchers used statistical methods to make the comparison groups as fair as possible. They also took steps to handle missing data and adjust for factors like education level. However, some unmeasured factors, including socioeconomic status or access to health care, could still have influenced the results. Additionally, since participants came from a specialized care center, the findings may not be applicable to all people with fibromyalgia.

Investigators encourage future research to focus on identifying which subgroups of patients were most likely to respond favorably to different types of pain education programs.

“Overall, the results advocate for the inclusion of comprehensive and targeted pain education in fibromyalgia treatment protocols to foster better patient outcomes and satisfaction,” investigators concluded.