Do Fibromyalgia Patients Have a Preferred Resistance Training Volume? Protocol for a Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial

ABSTRACT Background Do fibromyalgia patients have a preferred resistance training volume? Purpose This protocol will support a trial evaluating the preference for volume in three different resistance training protocols for women with fibromyalgia. Methods Protocol for a randomized crossover clinical trial. Women aged 18–65 years with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia will be included. Patients who have undergone resistance training in the last 6 months, who have another associated rheumatic disease, who have travel or scheduling commitments that will require them to be absent for the next 4 (four) weeks from the start of the study, who have upper and/or lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries, or who have cardiac problems that prevent maximal and submaximal exercise will not be included. The primary outcome will be preference. Secondary outcomes will be expectation, pain intensity, affect, and perceived effort, training volume, and cadence. For the primary outcome, the number of choices of the 3 types of training will be recorded as a percentage. For the analysis of the primary outcome, we will summarize the patient's preference in a contingency table, compare the proportions using the chi‐squared test, and finally verify the effect size of the observed differences. For the secondary outcomes, statistical analyses will be performed by a blind statistician. The independent variables of group and time will be considered for each dependent variable. Results This will be the first study to examine the preference of women with fibromyalgia for different volumes of resistance training. Discussion We will show whether exercise volume preference is related to subjective perception of exertion and pain intensity in women with fibromyalgia. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT06424743)