Fig. 8.

Average absolute blood flow responses to handgrip exercise in 10 subjects with fibromyalgia (FM) and 13 age-matched healthy controls (HC). The vertical lines indicate the beginning and end of exercise. Average pre-exercise blood flow value, determined as the average of data points 30 s before the onset of exercise, was 3.19 ± 1.03 ml/100 ml/min for the healthy subjects and 2.63 ± 0.71 ml/100 ml/min for the FM subjects (p = 0.444). Plateau blood flow value, determined as the average of points 30 s before the end of exercise was 10.71 ± 3.91 ml/100 ml/min for healthy subjects and 4.83 ± 1.42 ml/100 ml/min for FM subjects (p = 0.018).