• Omid Rasouli, Egil A Fors, Ottar Vasseljen, and Ann-Katrin Stensdotter.
• Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
• Pain Res Manag. 2018 Jan 1; 2018: 9014232.

Background And ObjectivesCognitive complaints are common in fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Fatigue as well as pain may require greater effort to perform cognitive tasks, thereby increasing the load on processing in the central nervous system and interfering with motor control.MethodsThe effect of a concurrent arithmetic cognitive task on postural control during quiet standing was investigated in 75 women (aged 19-49 years) and compared between FM, CFS, and matched controls (n=25/group). Quiet standing on a force plate was performed for 60 s/condition, with and without a concurrent cognitive task. The center of pressure data was decomposed into a slow component and a fast component representing postural sway and adjusting ankle torque.ResultsCompared to controls, CFS and FM displayed lower frequency in the slow component (p < 0.001), and CFS displayed greater amplitude in the slow (p=0.038 and p=0.018) and fast (p=0.045) components. There were no interactions indicating different responses to the added cognitive task between any of the three groups.ConclusionPatients displayed insufficient postural control across both conditions, while the concurrent cognitive task did not perturb quiet standing. Fatigue but not pain correlated with postural control variables.

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