Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Exercise Therapy

Chronic fatigue Syndrome Overview

Chronic fatigue syndrome is defined as a disorder indicated by extreme fatigue.

According to RightDiagnosis.com, about 500,000 Americans experience this condition. ^[1]

In most cases, extreme fatigue is associated with some underlying medical problem.

The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome are unknown, but experts believe that a combination of factors could be to blame.

Factors that contribute to chronic fatigue syndrome include problems linked with the immune system, viral infections, and hormonal imbalances.

Treatment of this syndrome focuses on symptom relief and exercise is assumed to be beneficial.

The primary purpose of this post is to inspect whether exercise can, indeed, relieve symptoms linked with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms

CFS or chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms go beyond persistent and medically unexplained fatigue.

The syndrome is also indicated by:

• Musculoskeletal pain
• Sleep disturbance
• Headache
• Impaired concentration
• Impaired short-term memory.

Since exercise therapy is dubbed as the best possible treatment for this condition, it is important to know the answers to basic questions to prove its efficacy.

For example:

• Is it more effective than passive treatments such as relaxation?
• Is it more effective than other active therapies like adaptive pacing or cognitive behavioral therapy?
• Is it more effective alone or when combined with other treatments?
• Is it safer than other treatments recommended for chronic fatigue syndrome?

Exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

To answer questions listed above, we turned to scientific researches as the only accurate and most reliable source of information regarding CFS.

Lauren L. and team of scientists of the Norwegian Knowledge Center for the Health Services from Oslo, Norway conducted a thorough review of studies to inspect the benefits of exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome. ^[2]

Study was published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and scientists searched and analyzed previous studies where patients with CFS were inspected. ^[3]

Criteria for the included studies were quite simple; every study had to include exercise therapy and other, passive control therapies such as psychological therapy, adaptive pacing therapy as well as pharmacological therapy.

The scientists included 8 randomized controlled studies and have reported data from 1518 participants.

Seven studies which were included in the review used variations of aerobic exercise therapy like swimming, walking, dancing or cycling while one study used the anaerobic exercise.

On the other hand, control groups consisted of passive control therapies.

Scientists Discovered that

• Seven studies showed a reduction in fatigue after exercise therapy for CFS at the end of the treatment
• Adverse reactions were very rare in both groups of participants
• Only one study reported little to no improvement after exercise therapy
• One study discovered a general benefit of exercise over adaptive pacing strategy
• One study revealed a benefit of exercise over supportive listening
• Exercise therapy was more effective at reducing fatigue comparing to passive treatment or no treatment at all
• Exercise therapy had a positive effect on participants’ daily physical functioning and self-ratings of overall health
• Exercise therapy proved to have a positive effect at the end of the treatment with respect to sleep
• Exercise therapy is a safe treatment considering the absence of severe side effects
• Information about pharmaceuticals and their efficacy was insufficient to draw conclusions.

One best alternative to the therapies is making use of joint pain supplements.

The user must carry out deep research on the ingredient whether they are effective or not.

All product’s working depends on its ingredients.

One of the joint pain medicine with effective ingredients is Projoint Plus. Projoint Plus ingredients are potent and of high quality proven to show its effectiveness.

Team of researchers behind the detailed review concluded their work explaining that patients who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome may benefit and feel less fatigued following exercise therapy.

Importantly, there was no evidence which suggests that exercise therapy could worsen one’s condition.

How to Overcome Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Exercise therapy is one of the effective ways of combating chronic fatigue syndrome.

This is because it helps a person to relax and get relief from stress which causes fatigue.

Also exercising enables the person to raise the heart rate and cause dilation of the blood vessels and promote the health of the blood vessels.

After the exercise sessions, it is possible to have quality sleep hence reducing the chronic fatigue syndrome.

Final Verdict

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a serious condition which occurs due to complex and not entirely understood the cause(s).

Experts believe that a combination of different factors contributes to the development of CFS.

Luckily, this syndrome can be relieved effectively.

There are numerous chronic fatigue syndrome therapies and treatments available, with exercise therapy being one of the most effective.

The primary purpose of this article was to inspect whether exercise therapy really is an effective way of relieving this syndrome and for that the thorough review of the same subject was included.

Review of different performed studies confirmed that exercise therapy is among the most effective and safe ways of treating symptoms associated with CFS.

This emphasizes the importance of new studies to be conducted that can address the question which exercise interventions (type, duration, and intensity) could be the most beneficial.

One of the most popular ways to eliminate chronic fatigue and pain completely is by using a MSM joint supplement.

Take a quick look at Omega XL Review which can help improve your joint health by protecting it from various joint damages.

3 Sources

We review published medical research in respected scientific journals to arrive at our conclusions about a product or health topic. This ensures the highest standard of scientific accuracy.

[1] Healthgrades Health Library: https://www.healthgrades.com/healthguides/top-health-stories
[2] Larun L, Brurberg KG, Odgaard-Jensen J, Price JR. Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Apr 25;4(4):CD003200. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003200.pub7. Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Oct 02;10:CD003200. PMID: 28444695; PMCID: PMC6419524.
[3] Larun L, Brurberg KG, Odgaard-Jensen J, Price JR. Exercise therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Feb 7;2:CD003200. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003200.pub4. Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016;(6):CD003200. PMID: 26852189.

Dr. Anthony J. Mele

Dr. Anthony J. Mele is a licensed psychologist with 25 years of clinical expertise and executive leadership in behavioral health care. Read Full Bio