Fibromyalgia Eased by Short Rounds of Physical Activity Each Day

Lifestyle physical activity is an approach that encourages patients to accumulate short bursts of physical activity into the day, by engaging in simple activities to keep them moving more walking, using the stairs, cycling, etc). Kevin Fontaine, from Johns Hopkins University (Maryland, USA), and colleagues enrolled 84 minimally active adults with fibromyalgia, to either engage in lifestyle physical activity, in which participants sought to achieve 30 minutes of self-selected moderate-intensity activity for five to seven days a week, or an educational session in which subjects received information and support, for a twelve-week period.  Finding that the lifestyle physical activity group reported significantly less perceived functional deficits and less pain, as compared to the group receiving education. The researchers conclude that: “Accumulating 30 minutes of [lifestyle physical activity] throughout the day produces clinically relevant changes in perceived physical function and pain in previously minimally active adults with [fibromyalgia].”