Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2002 Jul 27;325(7357):185.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.325.7357.185.

Prescribed exercise in people with fibromyalgia: parallel group randomised controlled trial

Selwyn C M Richards  1 , David L Scott
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Prescribed exercise in people with fibromyalgia: parallel group randomised controlled trial

Selwyn C M Richards et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate cardiovascular fitness exercise in people with fibromyalgia.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Hospital rheumatology outpatients. Group based classes took place at a "healthy living centre."

Participants: 132 patients with fibromyalgia.

Interventions: Prescribed graded aerobic exercise (active treatment) and relaxation and flexibility (control treatment).

Main outcome measures: Participants' self assessment of improvement, tender point count, impact of condition measured by fibromyalgia impact questionnaire, and short form McGill pain questionnaire.

Results: Compared with relaxation exercise led to significantly more participants rating themselves as much or very much better at three months: 24/69 (35%) v 12/67 (18%), P=0.03. Benefits were maintained or improved at one year follow up when fewer participants in the exercise group fulfilled the criteria for fibromyalgia (31/69 v 44/67, P=0.01). People in the exercise group also had greater reductions in tender point counts (4.2 v 2.0, P=0.02) and in scores on the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (4.0 v 0.6, P=0.07).

Conclusions: Prescribed graded aerobic exercise is a simple, cheap, effective, and potentially widely available treatment for fibromyalgia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure
Figure
Outline of flow of patients in study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Macfarlane GJ, Morris S, Hunt IM, Benjamin S, McBeth J, Papageorgiou AC, et al. Chronic widespread pain in the community: the influence of psychological symptoms and mental disorder on healthcare seeking behavior. J Rheumatol. 1999;26:413–419. - PubMed
    1. Croft P, Rigby AS, Boswell R, Schollum J, Silman A. The prevalence of chronic widespread pain in the general population. J Rheumatol. 1993;20:710–713. - PubMed
    1. Lawrence RC, Helmick CG, Arnett FC, Deyo RA, Felson DT, Giannini EH, et al. Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and selected musculoskeletal disorders in the United States. Arthritis Rheum. 1998;41:778–799. - PubMed
    1. White KP, Speechley M, Harth M, Ostbye T. Co-existence of chronic fatigue syndrome with fibromyalgia syndrome in the general population. A controlled study. Scand J Rheumatol. 2000;29:44–51. - PubMed
    1. Wolfe F, Anderson J, Harkness D, Bennett RM, Caro XJ, Goldenberg DL, et al. Health status and disease severity in fibromyalgia: results of a six-center longitudinal study. Arthritis Rheum. 1997;40:1571–1579. - PubMed

Publication types