Effects of local vibration therapy and gabapentin on restless legs syndrome symptoms: a randomized controlled trial

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of LV in combination with gabapentin, a first-line medication for RLS, on the treatment of patients with the condition. In total, 36 participants (18 in each group) participated in this study, with 10 (55%) being male within each group. The mean age of participants was 45 years (SD = 10.6) in the LV group and 49.1 (SD = 8.3) in the gabapentin group. In both the LV and gabapentin groups, IRLSSG scores decreased significantly after the intervention compared with baseline ( p < 0.001). However, scores increased at the one-month follow-up, although they remained lower than pre-intervention values ( p < 0.001). A similar pattern was observed for the PSQI scores ( p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between groups at any timepoint ( p > 0.05). The study protocol was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials on August 30th, 2023 (code IRCT20190306042945N4).