Daisymay
Senior Member
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- 754
From Action for ME:
http://www.afme.org.uk/news.asp?newsid=1045
Physical rehab survey: initial results
17 February 2011
Physical rehab survey: initial results
Preliminary analysis of Action for M.E.s survey of people with M.E. who have tried graded exercise therapy (GET), graded activity therapy (GAT) and/or exercise on prescription indicate that patients are still experiencing adverse affects as a result of trying GET in particular.
Action for M.E.s CEO, Sir Peter Spencer, says: Although the results cannot be interpreted as representing all people with M.E., because the 273 participants were self-selected, our findings are disturbing. They show that while a percentage of patients do benefit from GAT, GET and even exercise on prescription, too many still report that GET in particular makes them worse.
We continue to be worried about the way physical rehabilitation therapies are practiced because too few professionals really understand M.E.
In the next few months, we will be working closely with people with M.E. and physiotherapists, to try to get a better understanding of what is going wrong and to seek ways to address the problem.
An extract from the survey results, analysed by Professor Derek Pheby, M.E. Observatory, will be published next week in the charitys quarterly membership magazine, InterAction.
The article will report that: 60.2% of those citing GET as their most recent form of physical therapy reported that it had made their condition worse. Of these, 44.1% said it had made them much worse or very much worse, compared with only 22.2% who reported any degree of improvement.
For exercise on prescription, the results were similar: 52.2% reported that the therapy had made them worse, and only 26.1% reported an improvement.
Only GAT emerged as doing more good than harm, with 26.3% reporting that they were worse following therapy, while 39.4% reported an improvement. This is statistically highly significant (p =0.002).
A PDF of the article is available but please note, when you open the document, you have to scroll down to read it the top of the PDF is blank.
http://www.afme.org.uk/news.asp?newsid=1045
Physical rehab survey: initial results
17 February 2011
Physical rehab survey: initial results
Preliminary analysis of Action for M.E.s survey of people with M.E. who have tried graded exercise therapy (GET), graded activity therapy (GAT) and/or exercise on prescription indicate that patients are still experiencing adverse affects as a result of trying GET in particular.
Action for M.E.s CEO, Sir Peter Spencer, says: Although the results cannot be interpreted as representing all people with M.E., because the 273 participants were self-selected, our findings are disturbing. They show that while a percentage of patients do benefit from GAT, GET and even exercise on prescription, too many still report that GET in particular makes them worse.
We continue to be worried about the way physical rehabilitation therapies are practiced because too few professionals really understand M.E.
In the next few months, we will be working closely with people with M.E. and physiotherapists, to try to get a better understanding of what is going wrong and to seek ways to address the problem.
An extract from the survey results, analysed by Professor Derek Pheby, M.E. Observatory, will be published next week in the charitys quarterly membership magazine, InterAction.
The article will report that: 60.2% of those citing GET as their most recent form of physical therapy reported that it had made their condition worse. Of these, 44.1% said it had made them much worse or very much worse, compared with only 22.2% who reported any degree of improvement.
For exercise on prescription, the results were similar: 52.2% reported that the therapy had made them worse, and only 26.1% reported an improvement.
Only GAT emerged as doing more good than harm, with 26.3% reporting that they were worse following therapy, while 39.4% reported an improvement. This is statistically highly significant (p =0.002).
A PDF of the article is available but please note, when you open the document, you have to scroll down to read it the top of the PDF is blank.
