More exercise can improve your fibromyalgia symptoms.

Fibromyalgia is a condition consisting of widespread pain, fatigue and depression. This study showed a positive correlation between a better mood and exercise. Correlation does not equal causation, but it is suggested that physical activity can help with the depressive symptoms of fibromyalgia and physical activity should be encouraged.

The Research

J Affect Disord. 2017 Jan 15;208:214-217. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.10.003. Epub 2016 Oct 18.

Does volume of physical exercise have an effect on depression in patients with fibromyalgia?

Andrade A¹, Steffens RA², Vilarino GT², Sieczkowska SM², Coimbra DR².

Author information

¹Department of Physical Education, Laboratory of Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Center of Health Sciences and Sports, Santa Catarina State University, Brazil. Electronic address: alexandro.andrade.phd@gmail.com.
²Department of Physical Education, Laboratory of Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Center of Health Sciences and Sports, Santa Catarina State University, Brazil.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a musculoskeletal disorder frequently associated with depression. We aimed to investigate the association between physical exercise (PE) and depression in patients with FMS, and to evaluate the effect of the weekly volume of PE on depression.

METHODS:

A total of 215 FMS patients with depression were evaluated with the Beck Depression Inventory, and were also classified as inactive, insufficiently active, or active. We performed binary logistic regression, with PE as the dependent variable and the level of depression as an independent variable. We also used the Mann-Whitney U test. An alpha value of 0.05 was determined to have significance (p<0.05).

RESULTS:

Inactive patients with FMS have a higher rate of moderate to severe depression (29.1%) and major depression (25%) when compared with active patients. In comparing the depression index between inactive, insufficiently active, and active FMS patients according to the reported weekly volume of PE, we observed differences between inactive and active patients (p=0.035). The level of depression was positively associated with physical inactivity in FMS, and FMS patients with severe depression had 3.45 1.23-9.64) times the likelihood of being inactive than patients without depression or with minimal depression.

LIMITATIONS:

The classification of PE does not distinguish between types of PE, or whether differences in activity can have different results in depression.

CONCLUSION:

There was an association between PE and lower values of depression in patients with FMS, and the level of depression was positively and significantly associated with physical inactivity.

KEYWORDS:

Depressive symptoms; Fibromyalgia; Motor activity; Pain; Physical exercise