Moore, Geoffrey E, Keller, Betsy A, Stevens, Jared et al. · Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023 · DOI
This study measured how long it takes people with ME/CFS to recover after exercise compared to healthy people. Researchers gave participants two exercise tests on consecutive days and tracked their symptoms for 10 days afterward. People with ME/CFS took an average of about 2 weeks to recover, while healthy controls recovered in just 2 days—showing that post-exertional malaise (the characteristic symptom flare after activity) lasts much longer in ME/CFS.
This is the first study to systematically quantify PEM recovery time in ME/CFS patients, providing objective evidence of the prolonged disability that characterizes the disease. These findings are crucial for informing informed consent in exercise research, helping clinicians understand realistic recovery timelines, and establishing a measurable outcome for monitoring and potentially managing PEM in clinical and research settings.
This study does not prove what causes PEM or the underlying biological mechanisms driving prolonged recovery. It does not establish whether PEM duration correlates with disease severity or prognosis, nor does it demonstrate that shortened recovery time would improve with any specific treatment. The study is observational and cannot determine causality or identify interventions to reduce recovery time.
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
Moore, Geoffrey E, Keller, Betsy A, Stevens, Jared, Mao, Xiangling, Stevens, Staci R, Chia, John K, et al. (2023). Recovery from Exercise in Persons with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).. Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania). https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina59030571
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-moore-2023-recovery-exercise,
author = {Moore, Geoffrey E and Keller, Betsy A and Stevens, Jared and Mao, Xiangling and Stevens, Staci R and Chia, John K and Levine, Susan M and Franconi, Carl J and Hanson, Maureen R},
title = {Recovery from Exercise in Persons with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).},
journal = {Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania)},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3390/medicina59030571},
note = {PubMed: 36984572},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/moore-2023-recovery-exercise},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/moore-2023-recovery-exercise
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