title: Acute effects of thirty minutes of light-intensity, intermittent exercise on patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Currently, there is no consensus on exercise prescription for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This investigation examined whether light-intensity, intermittent physical activity exacerbated symptoms in patients with CFS immediately following exercise to 7 days following 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 mean 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 Centels for Disease Control and Prevention's criteria fi)r (FS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects performed 10 discontinuous 3-minute exercise bouts (separated by 3 minutes of recovery) at a self-selected, comfortable walking pace on a treadmill. Oxygen consumption, minute ventilation, respiratory exchange ratio, and heart rate were measured every minute during the exercise session. To assess degree of disability, general health status, activity level, symptoms, and mood, subjects completed various questionnaires before and after exercise.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that degree of disability, general health status, symptoms, and mood did not change immediately and up to 7 days following exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thirty minutes of intermittent walking did not exacerbate symptoms in subjects with CFS. The physiological data did not show any abnormal response 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 without experiencing symptom exacerbation. Despite this limitation, the results indicate that some individuals with CFS may be able to use low-level, intermittent exercise without exacerbating their symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Department, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos 78666, USA. ll12@swt.edu
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Clapp
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Clapp
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Pieroni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking