Gravity-induced exercise intervention in an individual with CFS/ME and POTS, 2019, Ballantine, Srassheim, Newton

MeSci

MeSci

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I thought I'd put this in 'News' rather than 'Research' as it looks a bit amateurish. (Maybe Julia Newton was in a teaching capacity?) (He repeatedly misspells 'encephalomyelitis'.)

Source: International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation

Vol 26, #5

Date: June 6, 2019

URL: https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/ijtr.2016.0035

Gravity-induced exercise intervention in an individual with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyeltis and postural tachycardia syndrome: A case report
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Robert Ballantine(1,*), Victoria Strassheim(2), Julia Newton(3)

1 Healthy London Partnership, London, UK

2 CRESTA Fatigue Clinic, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

3 Clinical Professor of Ageing and Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

* Corresponding author. E-mail Address: robballantine2@gmail.com

Received 27 July 2016
Accepted 4 February 2019
Published online 6 June 2019
Published in print 26 May 2019

Abstract

Background/Aims

Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyeltis is a condition of complex nature, characterised by unexplained disabling fatigue and a combination of non-specific accompanying symptoms. Individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyeltis frequently present with debilitating orthostatic symptoms, which may fall under the umbrella of postural tachycardia syndrome. Postural tachycardia syndrome is underpinned by autonomic nervous system dysfunction. The gravitational deconditioning that occurs in those severely affected by chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyeltis alongside postural tachycardia syndrome has been suggested as a key focus for interventions in this group. This case report documents the evaluation and rationale behind a novel gravity-induced exercise intervention to improve the symptoms of a 44-year-old female severely affected by chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyeltis and postural tachycardia syndrome, who had been bedbound for 10-15 years.

Methods

An exercise intervention was designed to challenge and therefore improve key areas of autonomic nervous system regulation in the presence of gravity. It contained seven different exercises conducted once a month in a class over a 6-month period.

Results

Fatigue impact score, activity levels and heart rate upon standing, as detected by an active stand test, improved during the exercise intervention and at follow up.

Conclusions

Gravity-induced exercise intervention can have a positive effect on an individual severely affected by Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyeltis alongside postural tachycardia syndrome.
 
could have to do with the vestibular system, and the nerves (sympathetic/para) ?
and may train it, stimulate it ?

i tried swings in the past years, but it wasnt anything like childhood, when it helped me hugely with whatever.
felt only dizzy and nauseous for quite some time.

there are those things for skydiving training, dont know the name.
its like riding / floating on an airstream over an inflated cushion.
may also account for gravity-induced exercise ?
 
I wonder how it works. I had to replace my mattress recently because the old one had become deformed from use and wasn't comfortable anymore, so the zero gravity effect obviously doesn't affect the mattress, only my organs. Perhaps we project some kind of anti-gravitational field that only goes as far as our skin when we lie down?
 
Apart from the questions others have noted, describing ME (aside from "unexplained disabling fatigue"), as having: "a combination of non-specific accompanying symptoms" is very vague, and gives the impression ME is not a disease, but a grab bag of varied unsubstantiated, insignificant symptoms. This study seems to go backwards, back to "cfs" is just syndrome.
 
Ah, I see their mistake: they forgot to put the salt in front of the door to account for evil spirits.

How is there no point at which doing the same thing over and over again with the same garbage results enough? Complete misuse of resources once more by clueless people doing aimless busywork. Garbage garbage sewage.
 
The patient is described as very severly affected - yet, she was able to both visit the clinic and do a standing from and sit down to chair test.

My lower body, feet and walking also is affected when I get worse, but is back to normal as soon as my overall condition improves a bit. No exercise involved. Also my walking is instantly affected if crashed. Deconditioning obviously don't explaine that.

At least they realized thing where not working out as planned, and didn't push the patient, even if their reasoning why is not good:

It was initially thought by the specialist physiotherapist (VS), who was running the class, that the patient would be able to incrementally increase her repetitions of each exercise month by month. However, it was noted fairly quickly that this would not be the case and that the progress would be a lot slower. This is indicative of how severe her symptoms were, as the movements conducted in the class are typical everyday functional movements for the general population.
Click to expand...


They did a one hour class, once a month:

Table 1. The seven exercises used in the monthly exercise intervention

1 Modified sit-up
2 Movement of head to ground
3 Full upper body raise
4 Sitting arms raise
5 Sit-to-stand (from chair)
6 Standing arms raise
7 Standing incremental roll down
Click to expand...
 
MeSci said:
An exercise intervention was designed to challenge and therefore improve key areas of autonomic nervous system regulation in the presence of gravity.
Click to expand...
Are those last five words not redundant? Doesn't everything on this planet take place "in the presence of gravity" without having to be designed? I reckon I could have ensured that gravity didn't excuse itself during the intervention and got my name on the paper too.

Or does it mean all the scientists stood around with serious faces?
 
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