Acute effect of strength training on mood of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, 2019, Andrade et al

Open access, https://reumatismo.org/index.php/reuma/article/view/1169

 

It seems people just love to redefine things.

3 sets of 12 reps with 1 minute between them - not 'strength' training as I understand it, more akin to bodybuilding styles of training (strength training is high weight, low reps, not this)

an hour? for someone who is presumably completely untrained and chronically ill?

1 session cannot be strength training, 1 session is just picking things up for a bit.

If 1 session is as effective as many, and I have done many, then why am I not in a good mood when I read this?

ETA

Not strength training

(given the 3 x12 stated presumably the 1 minute break is between sets, or maybe between switches, or maybe they are doing 3 reps or each exercise for 12 different exercises - which would make more sense for a chronically ill test group, if it wasn't for the simple fact that 3 reps of anything is not going to do anything physiologically useful for someone who isn't totally bed bound, unless the weight/effort is at the maximum attainable, and for that group it's too much

As written they are asking people to do 3 sets of 12 reps of 12 exercises, in 50 minutes, that's a hell of a lot for someone who won't have been in the trial if they did any exercise in the last 3 months and far more than can be done with correct form even for those who are trained IMO)

ETA2 - math

1 minute break between sets - 3 sets of 12 exercises (forget about any break or transition time between different exercises) is around 34 minutes resting during the 50 minute session (10 minutes were allocated to warm up out of the 60 minute session). No rest break between sets makes it not 3x12 but 1x36 rep set so there must be one.

So 3x12x12 movements - in 16 minutes = an average of 28 reps a minute - this isn't any form of resistance training at all - it's cardio.

My gut tells me there is more to it than that, but apparently maths is not within my capabilities today.

So this does not make sense as written.

 

The discussion section suggests the effect lasted 30 minutes.

 

Of 110 people that responded, 13 were excluded for not meeting Fibromyalgia criteria, but 29 "declined to participate" and 40 people did not participate due to "other reasons".

That suggests very large participation biases (who is going to respond to a newspaper ad about an exercise study unless they think it could be useful?)

80% of participants were employed. (note, Brazil's Laborforce participation rate is about 62% and unemployment rate of 11.8%)

So the final follow up was 6 days after the first session. These types of studies are subject to large response biases that could simply disappear at the long term.

These results are merely suggestive that the exercise therapy could be of benefit, but provide no evidence to form conclusions.

 

Where do I sign up for the effect of "cash gift" on mood study?

 

Uh, yeah, 3x12 is resistance training. Strength is usually 4-6 at ~90% load.

The meaning of words, does it really matter?

 

How many FM patients would rank "mood states" in the top 10 of their needs? Not in %, in absolute numbers the world over? Definitely less than 3x12. Especially as mood is itself a direct consequence of the illness. Like trying to catch smoke with a net and arguing that it takes care of the fire. We can clearly see the smoke going through the holes in the net and insisting otherwise does not change that basic fact.

This whole approach is like if restaurants were built on the model that you come in and eventually someone brings you a plate based on what the chef thinks you want and if you don't like it then that's too bad you have to pay for it anyway and don't you dare think about cooking your own alternative food because you're wrong if you say you don't like the food.

Except because medicine is a natural monopoly you can't take your business elsewhere so the "chefs" are completely oblivious to the fact when nobody likes their food and don't care to find out about it since clients are captive and they get paid no matter what, even if people end up starving because chefs insist on serving food people are allergic to and reject such complaints as mere whining by militant activists.

What a stupid model. Market solutions are not always superior but a fully supply-side monopolistic approach that treats demand as "complaints" never ever works, at anything. Any model that rejects the need for a feedback mechanism will end up in failure. So we have this nonsense, answering their own irrelevant questions, and doing a bad job at it, instead of attempting to solve the problem. Weak. Raking forests would be more productive.

 

Trying to catch smoke with a net is easy.

Put net in fire, net burns away, use net to catch smoke, if no smoke is caught then all smoke must have been caught previously, therefore nets are very good at catching smoke.

Simple, with the right sort of demented logic.

 

Comments @PhysiosforME ?

 

As someone diagnosed in 1996 with moderate-severe fibro, there are times when lifting a fork to eat something is painful. I have never, ever been able to do 3 reps of lifting soup cans, much less 12 reps w/ repeats, or using Therabands, weights, or extending my arms eccentrically. Legs are better but still affected by more than a contraction or two of muscle. If a muscle has been sensitized by the aberrant fibro central sensitization, you do not, NOT do muscle strengthening without the subsequent acute, very painful fibro flare. Any patient would tell you that.

Who were the so-called research subjects w/fibro. Any clinician who treats fibro patients will tell you that muscle strengthening exercises are very problematic. Make things worse. The focus should be on being able to function in ADL (activities of daily living).

Trash research, waste of money, and worsens my mood, I can tell you that.