Chastin, S F M, Granat, M H · Gait & posture · 2010 · DOI
This study looked at how people spend their time sitting versus moving around by using objective tracking devices. The researchers compared four groups: healthy people with active jobs, healthy people with desk jobs, people with chronic back pain, and people with ME/CFS. Interestingly, all groups spent similar total amounts of time sitting, but the way they accumulated that sitting time was very different—people with ME/CFS and those with sedentary jobs tended to sit in longer stretches, while active people took more frequent breaks.
For ME/CFS patients, this study suggests that the pattern of activity and rest—not just total inactive time—may be an important factor to measure. This finding could help researchers better understand and characterize activity limitations in ME/CFS and potentially improve how activity restrictions are objectively assessed and managed.
This study does not prove that sedentary patterns cause ME/CFS or vice versa; it only demonstrates that ME/CFS patients have a different pattern of sitting behaviour compared to controls. The small sample size of ME/CFS patients (n=14) limits generalizability, and the cross-sectional design cannot establish causality or whether these patterns emerge as a consequence of illness or contribute to disease severity. It does not address post-exertional malaise or activity-induced symptom worsening, which are central features of ME/CFS.
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
Chastin, S F M & Granat, M H (2010). Methods for objective measure, quantification and analysis of sedentary behaviour and inactivity.. Gait & posture. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2009.09.002
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-chastin-2010-methods-objective,
author = {Chastin, S F M and Granat, M H},
title = {Methods for objective measure, quantification and analysis of sedentary behaviour and inactivity.},
journal = {Gait & posture},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1016/j.gaitpost.2009.09.002},
note = {PubMed: 19854651},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chastin-2010-methods-objective},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chastin-2010-methods-objective
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