This article may be of interest for those who have a pool available and enjoy being in the water. If you have fibromyalgia, this may be something you can try.

Water Aerobics May Ease Fibromyalgia

Feb. 21, 2008 -- Living with fibromyalgia may get better when patients work out in a pool.

That's according to new fibromyalgia research from Spain, which reports that water aerobics "enhances the health-related quality of life in women with fibromyalgia."

The researchers studied 33 women with fibromyalgia who were leading sedentary lives. The women, who were 37 to 71 years old, were split into two groups.

Women in one group were assigned to take part in a water aerobics program. They worked out together in a warm, waist-deep pool for an hour, three times per week, for eight months. An instructor guided them through a warm-up, strength exercises, aerobics, and a cool-down period during each workout.

For comparison, the women in the other group kept their sedentary habits.  

Before anyone dipped a toe in a pool, and again at the end of the study, the women rated their quality of life. Quality-of-life ratings rose for women in the water aerobics group. Not so for the idle women; their quality-of-life ratings bobbed along at the same low level.

What mattered more -- working out at all, or working out in the water? The study doesn't settle that question.

But the researchers -- who included sports scientist Narcis Gusi, PhD, of Spain's University of Extremadura -- note that walking and low-impact aerobic exercise might be alternatives for fibromyalgia patients without pool access.

The findings appear in today's online edition of Arthritis Research & Therapy.

© 2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

Hello My Friend !

My internet connection has been down for the last week so I am stopping in quickly to say hi and - Peace !

Another good report. The one thing about the water exercise is that it relaxes the muscles and there is not that after terrible pain as with other exercises. Just stretching exercises are also good. Keep smiling and stretching folks.

Welcome back, brother Nick!
DonnaZ

Hi Shirley,

Thank you for the good advice about water exercise and about stretching. I don't like getting in the pool because the water is always cold and smells like chlorine. We don't have our own pool but there is one at the YMCA in our town.

DonnaZ