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Exercise Helps Patients With Chronic Fatigue Feel Better LONDON -- June 6, 1997 -- Aerobic exercise programmes can help reduce incapacity and symptoms in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), says a paper in this week's British Medical Journal (BMJ). Sixty-six patients with CFS who had neither a psychiatric disorder nor appreciable sleep disturbance were randomly allocated to either graded aerobic exercise or flexibility exercises and relaxation therapy. Sixteen out of 29 patients rated themselves as better after completing exercise treatment as opposed to eight out of 30 patients who completed flexibility treatment. The flexibility group patients were then offered the opportunity to cross over to the exercise programme. Three months after completing the exercise treatment, 32 of 47 patients rated themselves as better, and after one year 35 of the 47 felt better. Only one patient claimed to be worse after completing the exercise programme. Overall improvement was accompanied by improvements in fatigue and physical function, say the authors, but it seemed independent of the improved strength and peak aerobic capacity produced by exercise. In an accompanying editorial, consultant paediatrician Dr. Harvey Marcovitch calls for more research into the educational needs of children with chronic fatigue syndrome. The hyperbole surrounding the reporting of a recent study which claimed to show that CFS was the most common reason for long term school absence should not be allowed to conceal the extent of the problem for some seriously incapacitated children, he says. "Perhaps the most important conclusion of this study is not quoted by the authors", he concludes. "Many diseases which, in the past, led to long-term absence from school are now dealt with in a way which does not result in this added disability." For example, many children successfully treated for malignancies and serious rheumatological disorders, and those with cystic fibrosis miss little school. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version