Pain was significantly reduced post treatment by l and -based and water-based AE , exercises with slight to moderate intensity and frequency of two or three times per week .
Positive effects on depressed mood , HRQOL and physical fitness could be maintained at follow-up .
Continuing exercise was associated with positive outcomes at follow-up .
Introduction The efficacy and the optimal type and volume of aerobic exercise ( AE ) in fibromyalgia syndrome ( FMS ) are not established .
We therefore assessed the efficacy of different types and volumes of AE in FMS .
A controlled study of the effects of a supervised cardiovascular fitness training program on the manifestations of primary fibromyalgia.
Forty-two patients with primary fibromyalgia were r and omized into a 20-week program consisting of either cardiovascular fitness ( CVR ) training or simple flexibility exercises ( FLEX ) that did not lead to enhanced cardiovascular fitness . Patients were supervised by the same medical fitness instructors . Patients in neither group had contact with members of the other group , and were blinded as to the exercise taught to the alternative group . Groups met for 60 minutes 3 times each week . The compliance rate was 90 % . Thirty-eight patients completed the study ( 18 with CVR training and 20 with FLEX ) . Blind assessment s ( st and ardized in preliminary trials to achieve acceptable inter-rater agreement ) were performed by the same 2 examiners . After 20 weeks , patients receiving CVR training showed significantly improved cardiovascular fitness scores compared with those receiving FLEX training ( t[35 ] = -4.22 , P less than 0.003 ) . Logistic regression analysis showed clinical ly and statistically significant improvements in pain threshold scores , which were measured directly over fibrositic tender points , in patients undergoing CVR ( t[35 ] = 2.21 , P less than 0.04 ) . There was also a trend toward improvement in pain scores ( visual analog scale ) in the CVR group , but this did not reach statistical significance . There was no improvement in the percentage of body area affected by fibrositic symptoms or the number of nights per week or hours per night of disturbed sleep ( self-report inventories ) . However , compared with the FLEX group , the CVR-trained patients improved significantly in both patient and physician global assessment scores . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
Pain was significantly reduced post treatment by l and -based and water-based AE , exercises with slight to moderate intensity and frequency of two or three times per week .
Positive effects on depressed mood , HRQOL and physical fitness could be maintained at follow-up .
Continuing exercise was associated with positive outcomes at follow-up .
Introduction The efficacy and the optimal type and volume of aerobic exercise ( AE ) in fibromyalgia syndrome ( FMS ) are not established .
We therefore assessed the efficacy of different types and volumes of AE in FMS .