According to a new study published in the open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, the fibromyalgia patients could benefit significantly from regular exercise in a heated swimming pool.

There is no known cause or accepted cure for fibromyalgia, a painful syndrome in which the patients describe chronic and severe pain and tenderness in muscles, ligaments and tendons. Pain in the neck and shoulders is common but sufferers also report problems with sleep, anxiety and depression. re than 90 percent of sufferers are female

After conducting a randomized controlled trial with a group of 33 female fibromyalgia patients,  Narcís Gusi of the Faculty of Sports Sciences, at the University of Extremadura, in Cáceres, Spain and Pablo Tomas-Carus of the Department of Sport and Health at the University of Évora, Portugal concluded that long-term aquatic exercise program was effective in reducing symptoms.

Seventeen of the patients took part in supervised training exercises in warm water for an hour three times a week over a period of 8 months while the remaining sixteen did no aquatic training.

"The addition of an aquatic exercise programme to the usual care for fibromyalgia in women, is cost-effective in terms of both health care costs and societal costs," the researchers conclude, "appropriate aquatic exercise is a good health investment."

The common treatment of fibromyalgia consists in painkillers, associated with exercise and relaxation techniques.