Pacing is an activity management technique for managing a long-term health condition or disability, aiming to maximize what a person can do while reducing, or at least controlling, any symptoms that restrict activity.
[1]: 134 Pacing aims to manage symptoms by avoiding the "boom and bust" cycle that is common among people exceeding their current, limited capacities.
[1]: 135 Pacing typically involves: Pacing has been used to help manage a wide variety of different illnesses and disabilities, including neuromuscular diseases like Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT),[3] rheumatoid or immune-mediated diseases like rheumatoid arthritis,[2] juvenile arthritis and fibromyalgia, ME/CFS,[4] Ehlers–Danlos syndromes (EDS),[1] and Long COVID.
[5] Pacing has been shown to reduce post-exertional symptom exacerbation in people with long COVID.
[5] In many health conditions, there are no clinical trials to establish the effectiveness of pacing.