By David Tuller. DrPH
Proponents of psycho-behavioral interventions for ME/CFS and, more recently, Long Covid, have argued–unconvincingly and with a shortage of actual evidence–that the disabling symptoms can be attributed to the effects of deconditioning. Earlier today, I spoke with Dr Rob Wüst, an expert in muscle physiology and metabolism at Vrije [Free] University Amsterdam. Last year, Dr Wüst and colleagues reported in Nature Communications that exercise led to muscle abnormalities in Long Covid. (I interviewed him about that study.) In a pre-print study posted last month, Dr Wüst’s team compared the results of exercise in people with Long Covid and ME/CFS patients to the results from healthy people who spent 60 days bedridden. Earlier today, Dr Wüst and I discussed the new paper and its implications.