Exercise and exercise testing in fibromyalgia patients: Lessons learned and suggestions for future studies

Objectives: To critically review the current literature on exercise in fibromyalgia patients and suggest potential avenues for future research. Results: Although there is a consensus that fibromyalgia patients are or become aerobically unfit there are conflicting reports as to whether there is a true muscle weakness as opposed to a quasi-weakness resulting from pain inhibition. Recent studies indicating that fibromyalgia patients have problems relaxing their muscles during the short pauses between repetitive movements may be a significant "breakthrough" in the understanding of muscle dysfunction in this condition. Perfecting non-invasive technologies of dynamic muscle function should be a goal of future studies. Conclusions: The study of exercising muscle has the potential to yield important clues as to the etiology of fibromyalgia muscle pain and dysfunction.