Acute effects of thirty minutes of light-intensity, intermittent exercise on patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

Background and Purpose. Currently, there is no consensus on exercise prescr iption for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This investigation examined whether light-intensity, intermittent physical activity exacerbat ed symptoms in patients with CFS immediately following exercise to 7 days f ollowing exercise. Subjects. Subjects were 9 women (mean age=44.2 years, SD =8.4, range=29-56; mean weight=74.2 kg, SD=18.8, range=56.36-110.91; and me an height=1.63 m, SD=0.8, range=1.55-1.78) and 1 man (age=48 years, weight= 97.1 kg, and height=1.98 m) who met the Centers for Disease Control and Pre vention's criteria for CFS. Methods. Subjects performed 10 discontinuous 3- minute exercise bouts (separated by 3 minutes of recovery) at a self-select ed, comfortable walking pace on a treadmill. Oxygen consumption, minute ven tilation, respiratory exchange ratio, and heart rate were-measured every mi nute during the exercise session. To assess degree of disability, general h ealth status, activity level, symptoms, and mood, subjects completed variou s questionnaires before and after exercise. Results. Results indicated that degree of disability, general health status, symptoms, and mood did not ch ange immediately and up to 7 days following exercise. Conclusion and Discus sion. Thirty minutes of intermittent walking did not exacerbate symptoms in subjects with CFS. The physiological data did not show any abnormal respon se to exercise. Although this study did not determine whether 30 minutes of continuous versus intermittent exercise would exacerbate symptoms, all 10 subjects felt that they could not exercise continuously for 30 minutes with out experiencing symptom exacerbation. Despite this limitation, the results indicate that some individuals with CFS may be able to use low-level, inte rmittent exercise without exacerbating their symptoms.