Weekly Exercise May Help Alleviate Chronic Pain for those with Fibromyalgia

For those suffering from fibromyalgia, a new study shows that weekly exercise may help to alleviate some symptoms of chronic pain felt in the joints.

While previous studies note the short-term benefits of exercise help fibromyalgia, many with the condition, a poorly understood disorder that includes joint pain, tenderness, fatigue and depression and affects an estimated 5.8 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control, fail to keep up the healthy routine.

"This study shows that if they're able to stay with the exercise program in the long term it actually is helpful to them," Dr. Eric Matteson said, chair of the department of rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not involved in the study, according to Reuters.

 As part of a larger study funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers recruited 170 individuals with fibromyalgia who were on medication and had reported low levels of physical activity.

Each person received a personalized aerobic exercise "prescription" based on their current fitness level, which usually meant walking around a track, according to lead author Anthony Kaleth, who designed the regimens.

Over three months the exercise programs gradually increased in intensity from twice weekly 10-minute sessions to up to four weekly 30-minute sessions of moderate exercise achieving 60 percent of maximum heart rate.

Throughout the length of the study, participants reported their activity levels in a questionnaire. Other questionnaires assessed how their fibromyalgia symptoms changed, including muscle impairment, overall wellbeing, pain levels and depression.

At the end of the study, 27 people said they'd sustained the exercise over all nine months, 68 increased their workout efforts for three months then decreased again and 75 were no more active than when they started.

The first two groups also reported less physical impairment and better overall wellbeing than those who did not increase their activity at all. A steady increase in intensity was linked to a slight decrease in pain, although a temporary bump in exercise was not. Depression levels did not change in any group.