4:3 Conclusions – Graded Exercise Therapy (GET)
We conclude that GET should be withdrawn with immediate effect as a primary intervention for everyone with ME/CFS.
One of the main factors that led to patients reporting that GET was inappropriate was the very nature of GET itself, especially when it was used on the basis that there is no underlying physical cause for the symptoms, and that patients are basically ill because of inactivity and deconditioning.
A significant number of patients had been given advice on exercise and activity management that was judged harmful with symptoms having become worse or much worse and leading to relapse. And it is worth noting that despite current NICE recommendations, a significant number of severe-to-very severe patients were recommended GET by practitioners and/or had taken part in GET courses.
The other major factor contributing to poor outcomes was the incorrect belief held by some practitioners that ME/CFS is a psychological condition leading to erroneous advice that exercise could overcome the illness if only patients would ‘push through’ worsening symptoms.
When it comes to prescribing any form of exercise, health professionals should be doing so with the same degree of caution that would apply to a drug intervention. Clearly that does not often happen with GET. A very significant number of patients had been given advice on exercise and activity management that was not appropriate to the extent of their disability and which resulted in harm.
We recognise that it is impossible for all treatments for a disease to be free from side-effects, but if GET was a licensed medication we believe the number of people reporting significant adverse effects would lead to a review of its use by regulatory authorities.
As a physical exercise-based therapy, GET may be of benefit to a sub-group who come under the ME/CFS umbrella and are able to tolerate regular and progressive increases in some form of aerobic activity, irrespective of their symptoms. However, identifying a patient who could come within that sub-group is problematic and not possible at present.
Some patients indicated that they had been on a course which had a gentle approach of graded activity rather than a more robust and structured approach of graded physical exercise. There were some reports that patients were told they should not exercise when they felt too unwell to do so. These led, for some, to an improvement in symptoms or to symptoms remaining unaffected.
However, we conclude that GET, as it is currently being delivered, cannot be regarded as a safe and effective form of treatment for the majority of people with ME/CFS. The fact that many people, including those who consider themselves severely affected, are being referred to specialist services for an intervention that makes them either worse or much worse is clearly unacceptable and in many cases dangerous.
GET should therefore be withdrawn by NICE and from NHS specialist services as a ‘one size fits all’ recommended treatment with immediate effect for everyone who has a diagnosis of ME/CFS. This advice should remain until there are reliable methods for determining which people who come under the ME/CFS umbrella are likely to find that GET is a safe and effective form of management.
The concerns about GET as practiced outside research conditions and consistently expressed in this and other patient surveys are well founded (see Key Findings 3:7 and Appendix 6).