Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain disorder, with unknown organic etiology and no known pharmacologic treatment shown to be consistently effective. The present study examined the relationship between regular weekly exercise participation and depressed mood among women with FM. Seventy women with a diagnosis of FM were evaluated at baseline and at the three-year follow-up. At each assessment participants were interviewed, underwent a medical examination, and completed questionnaires assessing depressed mood, health status and daily functioning. Thirteen per cent of the women at baseline and 18% at follow-up reported doing no leisure physical activity. Depressed mood was significantly lower at follow-up compared to baseline. Engaging in more weekly leisure physical activity was associated with better functional ability at both assessments. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that after controlling for baseline depression, higher depressed mood scores at the three-year follow-up was associated with younger age, lower household income, less improvement in daily functioning and less participation in weekly leisure physical activity. These results support the claims that exercise can improve mental as well as physical health, underlining the importance of its integration into the comprehensive treatment of fibromyalgia.
The relationship between exercise participation and depressed mood in women with fibromyalgia
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.