The Real Story About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (on physical therapy/physiotherapy)

[Dolphin]

FEATURE
The Real Story About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Research shows that the condition, once ridiculed as imaginary, is a true physiological disease. Here's what to look for, and how PTs are helping those who have it.
By Eric Ries | September 2017
http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/2017/9/Feature/ChronicFatigue

A sympathetic article. Though I am still unsure whether physical therapy should be recommended at this stage of the knowledge about ME/CFS.

 

[Dolphin]

Apart from listening to patients, and letting them space out their activities, it doesn't give that much information that I recall on what physical therapists/physiotherapists should be recommending.

Exercising under the anaerobic threshold is mentioned at one stage.

 

[Dolphin]

One point of disagreement in the article:

Exactly how bright the future looks for people with CFS in terms of finding answers through research depends on who you talk to.

Louw is particularly encouraged by the body of work of Belgian researchers Mira Meeus and Jo Nijs, with whom he's collaborated, calling them "world-leading authorities in the field of neuroscience and people with chronic fatigue syndrome." Their work, he says, suggests that a "mid-range" of exercise is best, with no exercise or too much exercise both making the patient's condition worse. Their research, Louw says, "is very therapy-specific. I encourage PTs to look up their papers."

Davenport, however, argues that a "pain science approach" sometimes can underplay the value of patients "listening to their body" in favor of the message that "pain perception does not equal tissue damage." It's an area in which, he says, "pain science proponents and I have some robust debate."

He adds that while "some interesting papers have come out in recent years that seem to support the etiology of possible aerobic-system dysfunction" in people with CFS, a "causal link" to why CFS happens—and thus how it might best be addressed—remains elusive.

I'm not sure which specific research by Meeus and Nijs

suggests that a "mid-range" of exercise is best with no exercise or too much exercise both making the patient's condition worse.

 

[alex3619]

"suggests that a "mid-range" of exercise is best with no exercise or too much exercise both making the patient's condition worse." Doesn't pacing qualify as that?

 

[Dolphin]

"suggests that a "mid-range" of exercise is best with no exercise or too much exercise both making the patient's condition worse." Doesn't pacing qualify as that?

I'm not sure what research of theirs there is showing no exercise is bad.

 

[Esther12]

I wasn't really keen on this. It did mention criticism of PACE though, so that's +100.

 

[alex3619]

Any paper that discusses PACE as problematic plus our actually measured and measurable exercise problems is at least on a better path even if it is not perfect.

 

[Effi]

Louw is particularly encouraged by the body of work of Belgian researchers Mira Meeus and Jo Nijs, with whom he's collaborated, calling them "world-leading authorities in the field of neuroscience and people with chronic fatigue syndrome."

world-leading authorities in the field of neuroscience and people with chronic fatigue syndrome??? What a load of $$$. They are world-leading proponents of central sensitization (e.g. Canada has them to thank for it), but whenever there's cash to gain in biomed research, they'll happily jump over the fence for the duration of the trial, then jump right back over to talk about kinesiophobia and 'pain without tissue damage is merely perceived pain'. The impression they give me is that their main purpose is to keep their research team afloat. Not the greatest motivation for research, now is it?

 

[Barry53]

"suggests that a "mid-range" of exercise is best with no exercise or too much exercise both making the patient's condition worse." Doesn't pacing qualify as that?

Trouble is, that phraseology is so very woolly that GET proponents might convince the innocently uninformed that it fits with their ideas too.

 

[alex3619]

Trouble is, that phraseology is so very woolly that GET proponents might convince the innocently uninformed that it fits with their ideas too.

Quite. I should have added a sarcasm alert.

 

[Barry53]

Quite. I should have added a sarcasm alert.

Sorry, I was a bit slow

 

[alex3619]

Sorry, I was a bit slow

Just blame ME. It makes everyone slow.

 

[Dolphin]

A critique of this article has been posted here:

Beware of Articles About ME That Conceal Support for GET/CBT
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...ut-me-that-conceal-support-for-get-cbt.54369/

 

[Orla]

This article came up on my facebook. I read the beginning of it and thought it was quite good but then I got to what felt like a sales-pitch and stopped. I am going to read the critique now to see what someone else thought.