Warm Water Exerise Effective for Fibromyalgia Symptom Relief

In the most recent issue of Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology [2007 Nov-Dec;25(6):823-30] researchers at the Section of Physical Education and Sports, University Pablo de Olavide, Seville (Spain) describe their study of the effects of warm water exercise on middle-aged women with fibromyalgia. They aimed to compare cognitive function between fibromyalgia patients and health controls, as well as to evaluate the efficacy of warm water exercise.

Sixty middle-aged women with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to either an exercise training group that participated in 3 sessions a week of aquatic training in chest-high 32 C / 89.6 F water for 16 weeks. The program included mobility, aerobic, strengthening, and relaxation exercises. The control group did not receive this treatment. Twenty-five healthy women without fibromyalgia were also assessed. Pain was assessed in patients using pressure applied by a "syringe calibrated like a pressure dolorimeter", and a visual analog scale.

The severity of [fibromyalgia] was evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. Cognitive function was measured in healthy individuals and patients using several standardized neuropsychological tests. All patients were measured at baseline and post-treatment.

Before treatment, the healthy women showed significantly superior cognitive performance to the fibromyalgia patients in all neuropsychological tests. The group that participated in the exercise program had major improvements in their pain threshold, tender point count, self-reported pain, severity of fibromyalgia symptoms, and cognitive function. No significant differences were seen in the control group.

An exercise therapy three times per week for 16 weeks in a warm-water pool is an adequate treatment to decrease the pain and severity of [fibromyalgia] as well as to improve cognitive function in previously unfit women with [fibromyalgia] and heightened painful symptomatology.