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Posted on Oct 13, 2002, 5 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
Aerobic exercise can help to ease the symptoms experienced by patients suffering from the painful musculoskeletal condition fibromyalgia, according to researchers from King's College London and Poole Hospital NHS Trust in the UK. Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread muscular and joint pain, however other symptoms of the disease include sleep disturbances and fatigue, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Aerobic exercise can help to ease the symptoms experienced by patients suffering from the painful musculoskeletal condition fibromyalgia, according to researchers from King's College London and Poole Hospital NHS Trust in the UK. Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread muscular and joint pain, however other symptoms of the disease include sleep disturbances and fatigue, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome. For the study, participants were assigned to follow a program of aerobic exercise, or relaxation and flexibility exercises. Results showed that 35% of patients who followed the aerobic exercise program experienced a marked improvement in their condition after just 3-months. Study leaders Dr Selwyn CM Richards and Dr David L Scott concluded: "prescribed graded aerobic exercise is a simple, cheap, effective and potentially widely available treatment for fibromyalgia."
SOURCE/REFERENCE: British Medical Journal 2002; 325:185-187
