News - Intensifying Aerobics Does Not Provide Big Improvement In Fibromyalgia

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" High or Low Intensity Aerobic Fitness Training in Fibromyalgia: Does It

Matter? "

03/11/2002

By Loshak

Highly intense physical fitness training leads to only modestly better

physical fitness and general well-being than low intensity training in

patients with fibromyalgia. Such high intensity training also does not

improve psychological status or general health.

In this study, Dutch researchers sought to determine the efficiency of

various intensity levels of physical activity. They assessed 33 women with

fibromyalgia who received either high intensive (n=18) or low intensive

(n=15) fitness training for 20 weeks.

The primary outcome was patient global assessment on a 100 millimetre visual

analogue scale. Secondary endpoints were pain, number of tender points,

total myalgic score, physical fitness, health status and psychological

distress.

One patient in the high intensity group and two in the low intensity group

stopped the training during the study. Nine patients in the high intensity

group and eight in the low intensity group achieved a participation rate of

67 percent or more. The most important reasons for non-adherence were pain

and fatigue after exercise, the time the training took and stress.

The visual analogue scale for global well-being improved slightly, from 64

to 56 millimetres, in the high intensity group but barely changed, from 58

to 61 millimetres, in the low intensity group.

W-max, the measure of physical fitness, rose modestly, from 110 to 123 watt

in the high intensity group and from 97 to 103 watt in the low intensity

group.

The visual analogue scale rating for pain rose from 53 to 64 millimetres in

the high intensity group and from 52 to 54 millimetres in the low intensity

group.

Large standard deviations around mean change in global assessments, number

of tender points, total myalgic score and psychological distress greatly

reduced the power to detect differences in and between the two groups.

Analysis limited to those patients who had an attendance rate above 67

percent showed similar results.

Journal of Rheumatology 2002; 29:582-587.