Exercise Resource Center for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Blogs and Articles

The Dangers of Too Much "Exercise" or Activity

Nothing will set someone with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) back faster than too much "exercise". (Exercise is in quotes because the term hardly applies to light walking or the mild activities that are often enough to send a person with ME/CFS into a relapse or "crash". Two-day exercise studies show that vigorous exercise actually damages an ME/CFS patient's ability to generate energy.

Despite this many doctors and laymen believe that all a person with ME/CFS needs to do is exercise to get better. The below resources may be helpful s

• Ten Ways To Prove That Exercising Will Not Cure Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
• Workwell's Letter for Health Care Providers
• CFS and the Exercise Conundrum by Dr. Lucinda Bateman

How to Exercise

It is possible for some people with ME/CFS to "exercise" effectively but it requires following an "exercise" program different from anything you’ve ever tried before.

Following a heart-based exercise program can help you avoid "deconditioning" which can cause muscle weakening, structural changes to the nerves and muscles, connective tissue thickening and muscle shortening that affects movement (hence the stretching exercises), reduced blood volume, increased inflammation, bone demineralization, reduced stroke volume (heart), thickened blood, orthostatic intolerance, decreased gut motility, constipation, increased risk of diabetes, cognitive problems, sleep disturbances, irritability and depression (!).

• How to Benefit From Exercise Even Though You Have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – an excellent how-to article from Johannes Starke that includes his personal experiences and video’s and tools you can use to get more fit.
• The Best Exercise for ME/CFS: Laurie Hope on Qigong
• Safe Exercise? The Heart Rate Based Exercise Video Series Pt I featuring Dr. Nancy Klimas. Cort Johnson provides an overview of Dan Moricoli’s video on Dr. Klimas exercise program
• The Heart Rate Based Exercise Video Series Pt II – Cort Johnson provides an overview of Dan Moricoli’s video on the consultation examining the test results
• A Realistic Approach to Exercise by Staci Stevens, Dr. Snell and Dr Van Ness
• Heart Rate Monitor Based Exercise Program Improves Cardiovascular Functioning in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Study – a person using a heart rate monitor exercise program improves her everyday fitness greatly and, surprisingly, her cardiovascular functioning
• When Working Out Doesn’t Work Out – by Dr. Snell, Dr. Van Ness and Staci Stevens
• PFL Testing for Post-exertional Malaise and Disability by Staci Stevens and Dr. Snell
• Decoding the 2-day Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) by Caroline Christian - Caroline digs deep, deep, deep into what a two-day exercise tests shows.

Research

• 'A Foreign and Illogical Result': Dr. Betsy Keller on Exercise Testing ...
• Deciphering Post-Exertional Relapse in ME/CFS - The Cook Webinar
• Report From San Fran IV: Moving Forward – Exercise Findings Point to the Mitochondria – several conference reports suggest problems with the mitochondria may be to blame.
• Poor Oxygen Uptake May Be at the Core of the Exercise Problems in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Vermoulen finds much reduced oxygen uptake by the muscles in ME/CFS
• ‘A Foreign and Illogical Result': Dr. Keller on Exercise Testing in ME/CFS – Dr. Keller validates and notes how unusual the exercise limitations are in ME/CFS
• Advocates Rebuffed: CDC Whiffs On Opportunity to Prove Reduced Exercise Capacity Present in Major Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study – The patients wanted a 2-day test-retest exercise study, but the CDC settles for a one day test – that will show little about the metabolic breakdown
• Busted! Exercise Study Finds Energy Production System is Broken in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – a two-day maximal exercise test finds unusual metabolic problems in ME/CFS
• Heart Rate Monitor Based Exercise Program Improves Heart Functioning in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Study – a person using a heart rate monitor improves her everyday fitness greatly (even though she still can’t ‘exercise’).
• A Workout Without Working (Much): Fibromyalgia Study Suggests Muscles Are ‘Wired and Tired’ As Well: Implications for ME/CFS
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Deconditioning, Exercise and Recovery: the Klimas CDC Talk – Dr. Klimas asserts that deconditioning is rampant in ME/CFS and there’s a way out of it.

Post-Exertional Malaise

Jennie Spotila’s excellent 2010 series on what PEM is, how it is measured and how its been documented in ME/CFS for the CFIDS Association of America

• Unraveling Post-Exertional Malaise – defining PEM and patient experiences of it.
• Post-Exertional Malaise: Perception and Reality – evidence for PEM, how it is different
• Post-Exertional Malaise: Cause and Effect – kinesiophobia and causes of PEM
• Post-Exertional Malaise: Power to the People
• Download the entire series here

Patient Reports

• Anaerobic Thresholds, Fatty Acid Problems and Autophagy: Dr. Klimas’s Exercise Study - Cort Johnson gets an exercise physiologist to explain what his one-day exercise test showed.
• Jennie Spotila on exercise testing at Ithaca College – a full blown account not just of Jennies exercise tests but of her using those tests and a heart rate monitor to monitor her activity levels.
• Lannies Experiences at the Pacific Fatigue Lab (now Workwell) – Part I – Background/Costs) / Part II – the Test / Part III – Test Results / Part IV: plementing the Results

Doctor Reports

• CFS and the Exercise Conundrum by Dr. Lucinda Bateman
• Join the ME/CFS Community Center and view Dr. Klimas talking on exercise and ME/CFS, how to avoid deconditioning and feel better

Video Reports

• Dr. Snell on Cardiopulmonary Testing for Clinical Endpoints for ME/CFS at the FDA Stakeholders Meeting