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Inflammatory response to a bout of high-intensity exercise in females with fibromyalgia

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Abstract

Purpose

Past clinical trials show that individuals with fibromyalgia (FM) can benefit from moderate to high-intensity exercises (MHIE). However, individuals with FM present with exacerbated pain responses post-MHIE impacting their compliance to MHIE. This study aimed to identify a physiological factor involved in the exacerbated pain response to MHIE in people with FM by examining their inflammatory response to a bout of high-intensity exercise (HIE).

Methods

In this prospective study, 26 participants with FM and 9 healthy controls were recruited. The participants were subjected to a bout of HIE on a recumbent cycle ergometer with their blood samples collected at three time points (pre-HIE, HIE peak, and 1-h post-HIE). The primary outcomes were levels of the pro-inflammatory interleukins IL-6 and IL-8, and anti-inflammatory IL-10 at each of the three time points. Pain intensity before HIE and 24-h post-HIE was also measured.

Results

In comparison to healthy individuals, FM participants presented a blunted anti-inflammatory response to the HIE bout. Changes in the IL-10 level from the pre- to HIE peak were significantly different (p < 0.05) between the two groups (FM − 0.2 ± 0.9 and HC 0.5 ± 0.8) suggesting that patients with FM may not produce sufficient anti-inflammatory responses (IL-10) during HIE. Participants with FM also reported significantly higher (p < 0.01) levels of widespread muscle pain 24 h after the exercise.

Conclusion

Results from the current study suggest that people with FM present exacerbated symptoms after MHIE that may be partially due to a blunted anti-inflammatory response.

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Availability of data and material

The data will be made available upon reasonable request.

Code availability

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Funding

This study was supported by the University of Kansas Medical Center through a pilot research grant awarded to WL.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, California State University, Fresno, 5315 N. Campus Dr. M/S PT29, Fresno, CA, 93740, USA

    Caio V. M. Sarmento

  2. Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Caio V. M. Sarmento, Sanghee Moon, Taylor Pfeifer, Michael Steinbacher, Irina V. Smirnova, Yvonne Colgrove & Wen Liu

  3. Department of Population Health, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Sue M. Lai

  4. Division of Allergy, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Mehrdad Maz

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  1. Caio V. M. Sarmento
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  9. Wen Liu
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Contributions

Conceptualization: CS, IS, IC, SL, MM, and WL; methodology: CS, IS, WL, SM, and TP; validation: CS, WL, SM and IS; data analysis: CS, SL, and WL; investigation: CS, SM, TP, and MS; resources: CS and TP; data curation: CS, SM, TP, and MS; writing and revisions: CS, SM, TP, MS, IS, YC, SL, MM, and WL; supervision: WL and IS; project administration: CS and WL.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caio V. M. Sarmento.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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This study was approved by the institutional review board of the University of Kansas Medical Center (STUDY00141263). All procedures conducted in this study were in compliance with the ethical standards of the institutional review board and the Helsinki declaration.

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Written consent to participate in this study was obtained from each participant.

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Sarmento, C.V.M., Moon, S., Pfeifer, T. et al. Inflammatory response to a bout of high-intensity exercise in females with fibromyalgia. Sport Sci Health 18, 1051–1059 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-021-00890-0

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