Trapezius activity of fibromyalgia patients is enhanced in stressful situations, but is similar to healthy controls in a quiet naturalistic setting: a case-control study

Table 4 Subjective scores on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of pain (only fibromyalgia [FM] patients) and perceived general tension at arrival, after laboratory relaxation, and after mental stress test for FM patients and healthy controls

	Arrival	Laboratory relaxation	Mental stress	p^a
Pain within FM group
Shoulder/neck pain	28 (8–45)	22 (7–29)	39 (28–47)^c	<0.001
Low back pain	12 (0–25)	7 (0–11)	7 (0–17)	0.09
p^b	0.06	0.002	<0.001
General tension
FM patients	32 (13–42)	17 (7–25)	52 (37–58)^d	<0.001
Controls	10 (5–24)^e	5 (2–8)	40 (21–52)^f	<0.001
p^b	0.007	<0.001	0.13

Values are median (95%CI).
^aFriedman’s ANOVA; ^bWilcoxon signed rank test; ^cdifferent from Laboratory relaxation (p<0.001); ^ddifferent from arrival (p=0.03) and Laboratory relaxation (p<0.001); ^edifferent from Laboratory relaxation (p<0.001) and mental stress (p<0.001); ^fdifferent from Laboratory relaxation (p<0.001).

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