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Fibromyalgia and Exercise

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is the third most common rheumatological disease in the United States. However, doctors don't know very much about it. No one treatment seems to work for all patients. Exercise clearly does seem to help reduce the symptoms of FMS. The problem is, there have been no conclusive studies about what kinds or intensities of exercise help the most.

Recently, researchers did a pilot study to help determine how a 24-week walking program affected patients with FMS. They divided patients into a group who did low-intensity exercise, a group who did high-intensity exercise, and a control group who did no particular exercise.

The exercisers were given a walking schedule to follow. Everyone started walking for 12 minutes, three days a week. By the end of the 24 weeks, everyone was walking 30 minutes, three days a week. The high-intensity group needed to push their heart rate higher, which they did by walking faster. Throughout the study, patients gave written answers to questions about their FMS symptoms.

The original study group only included 21 patients. Only eight of them finished the walking program. Still, the researchers derived some valuable information from the study. It showed that FMS patients are capable of exercising at enough intensity to improve fitness. It also suggested that exercise helped patients do their daily tasks with less difficulty.

High-intensity exercise tended to increase patients' symptoms. On the other hand, low-intensity exercise seemed to decrease the symptoms over time. This study did not show reductions in pain or depression from the walking program, but other studies have.

This study was inconclusive for many reasons. Its main benefit will be to help researchers design future studies. But it does suggest that until more research is done, FMS patients should consider only low-intensity exercise programs.

References: Barbara B. Meyer and Kathy J. Lemley. Utilizing Exercise to Affect the Symptomology of Fibromyalgia: A Pilot Study. In Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. October 2000. Vol. 32. No. 10. Pp. 1691-1697.

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