Swimming can significantly ease the debilitating pain of fibromyalgia, researchers in Europe said today. The illness has no known cure.

The condition affects women far more than men and causes severe pain and tenderness in muscles, ligaments and tendons. Shoulder and neck pain is the most common manifestation, while sleep problems, anxiety and depression are also among consequences for sufferers.

In the study conducted by Narcis Gusi at the University of Extremadura, Spain, and Pablo Tomas-Carus of the University of Evora, Portugal, researchers had one group exercise in warm water for more than an hour three times a week for eight months while the others did no aquatic training. The women who swam said that the workouts helped ease their pain and improved quality of life.

'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 study team writes in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Similar studies in the United States showed similar results.