By Charnicia E. Huggins

NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters Health) - Previous reports have suggested that exercise may help ease the painful symptoms of fibromyalgia. Now researchers report that exercise may also not only help to lessen depression and anxiety among individuals with the chronic condition, but improve their walking speed as well.

Fibromyalgia, a condition that affects 2% of Americans, causes pain in the muscles and around the joints as well as tenderness at certain body sites. The cause is unknown.

"This study demonstrates that 23 weeks of supervised exercise can improve the mood and physical function of patients with fibromyalgia," Dr. Sue E. Gowans of the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada, and her colleagues write.

In the study, the researchers randomly assigned 51 individuals with fibromyalgia to either an exercise group or a comparison group. The exercise group participated in three pool and walking exercise classes per week for a period of 23 weeks.

At 6, 12 and 23 weeks into the study, the exercisers reported less depression than they did at the start of the study, whereas depression scores among those in the comparison group remained unchanged, Gowans and her team report in a recent issue of Arthritis Care & Research.

Furthermore, the exercisers increased the distance that they were able to walk in 6-minutes by 75 meters, or almost one-half mile more per hour than before. The non-exercisers had no significant difference in their walking speed.

The exercisers also exhibited a decrease in their anxiety level during the study period, particularly at 12 and 23 weeks, while their peers seemed to have increased anxiety, the report indicates.

Overall, about 20 people dropped out or were excluded from the study for various reasons, such as not attending all of the required exercise classes or because they began taking antidepressants, the authors note.

The good news is that the findings may be immediately useful to individuals with fibromyalgia, Gowans told Reuters Health.

"The exercise classes we ran required very little special equipment--a warm pool and a gym--and could easily be offered to individuals with fibromyalgia in the community," she said.

The researcher cautioned, however, that individuals with fibromyalgia should not suddenly begin to participate in a vigorous exercise program, lest they suffer "more pain post-exercise," she said. "But if they gradually increase their exercise level, as their physical abilities improve, they will be able to handle more vigorous activity without significant complaints of post-exercise pain."

The study was supported by a grant from the Toronto Hospital Auxiliary Women's Health Project on Women and Arthritis.

SOURCE: Arthritis Care & Research 2001;45:519-529.

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