Impact of Lockdown on Patients with Fibromyalgia

On March 11, 2020, WHO, faced with the levels of spread and the seriousness of the situation, declares COVID-19 a pandemic. In European countries and almost everywhere else in the world, people are confined to their homes in view of the imminent situation, producing reduced mobility to essential activities. This lockdown has had repercussions at different levels: (i) Inaccessibility to face-to-face healthcare, including the loss of multidisciplinary support programs for chronic pain patients. (ii) Physical reduction or inactivity due to overloaded childcare and housework, lack of space or online resources for practice, and/or as a consequence of unrefreshing sleep. (iii) Feelings of loneliness, loss of social support, uncertainty in the provision of health care if needed, and fear of contagion when exposed to open environments for essential activities, among others. (iv) Permanent or temporary loss of employment, implementation of teleworking or remote work, modifying the usual spaces of work occupation, and the interpersonal relationships inherent to this activity. (v) Vulnerability, especially in elderly population groups, associated with exposure to a large amount of information from reliable or unreliable sources, making it difficult to understand, and make decisions. (vi) Loss of family members and relatives without the social support inherent to these events. The sum of all of them entails a series of consequences in the lives of citizens that do not go unnoticed. The use of telerehabilitation offers the possibility of providing an accesible therapeutic context (assessment, treatment, and follow-up) in situations that limit patient's relationship with the environment such as the confinement suffered. It is in this sense where it would be of interest to consider the application of these telematic therapeutic routes in other causes of lockdown or lack of accessibility due to physical, programmatic, social, or transport barriers, with the aim of reaching this target population by providing personalized care.