Broadbent, Suzanne, Coetzee, Sonja, Beavers, Rosalind · European journal of applied physiology · 2018 · DOI
This small study looked at whether exercising in water could help women with ME/CFS. Eleven women did gentle water exercise twice a week for 4 weeks, and researchers measured their strength, fitness, and fatigue levels before and after. The women were able to walk farther, felt less tired and had less pain after the program, and nobody reported feeling worse from the exercise.
Many ME/CFS patients struggle to find safe forms of physical activity due to post-exertional malaise and symptom flares. This study provides preliminary evidence that aquatic exercise—which reduces joint stress and allows graded intensity—may be tolerable and beneficial, potentially offering clinicians and patients a safer exercise option to explore.
This pilot study does not prove aquatic exercise is effective for all ME/CFS patients, as it included only 11 women and lacked a control group for comparison. The findings cannot establish whether improvements would persist long-term or whether similar results would occur in men, patients with different ME/CFS severity levels, or in larger, more diverse populations. Individual responses may vary significantly.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Broadbent, Suzanne, Coetzee, Sonja, & Beavers, Rosalind (2018). Effects of a short-term aquatic exercise intervention on symptoms and exercise capacity in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: a pilot study.. European journal of applied physiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3913-0
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-broadbent-2018-effects-short,
author = {Broadbent, Suzanne and Coetzee, Sonja and Beavers, Rosalind},
title = {Effects of a short-term aquatic exercise intervention on symptoms and exercise capacity in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: a pilot study.},
journal = {European journal of applied physiology},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1007/s00421-018-3913-0},
note = {PubMed: 29923110},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/broadbent-2018-effects-short},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/broadbent-2018-effects-short
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