Acupuncture Helps Fibromyalgia
Acupuncture significantly improves fibromyalgia symptoms, according to a study by Mayo Clinic scientists.
The biggest improvements were seen in pain, anxiety, and fatigue. “However, activity and physical function levels did not change,” write David Martin, MD, PhD, and colleagues.
Their findings were presented in Sydney, Australia, at the International Association for the Study of Pain’s 11th World Congress on Pain.
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome of chronic pain. It causes widespread pain and tenderness in the muscles and soft tissue (including tender points) as well as sleep problems, fatigue, and other symptoms.
Acupuncture has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. It involves inserting needles in strategic parts of the body to improve the flow of what practitioners call chi, or vital energy said to travel through the body on energy pathways called meridians.
In recent decades, acupuncture has become more popular in the West, where it is also getting research attention for a number of conditions, including pain treatment.
In a Mayo Clinic news release, Martin says, “This study shows there is something real about acupuncture and its effects on fibromyalgia. “We expected the acupuncture to improve the pain. We didn’t really expect the largest benefit to be in fatigue or anxiety.
“The lack of change in activity or physical function “doesn’t surprise me, as we see this pattern in other chronic pain problems,” Martin continues. “You can relieve pain, but it’s a lot harder to prompt activity changes. A chronically ill person needs more than symptom relief to resume a normal lifestyle. We’re now beginning to work on that problem,” he says.
Participants were moderately debilitated by fibromyalgia, according to the news release. “Many have given up work, a lot of recreational activities, and made adjustments in their lives,” says Martin. “They have had a significant psychological burden as a result of the loss of these activities; it’s become part of their identities.”
In July, another acupuncture study yielded different results. That report appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It compared acupuncture with three different kinds of fake acupuncture.
In that study, treatments were done twice a week for three months in 100 people with fibromyalgia. The researchers reported no advantage for true acupuncture. They also noted that the study might have been too small to pick up on differences between the groups.
Martin’s study was also small, with 50 patients. It could serve as a model for future acupuncture trials, write Martin and colleagues.
Reference - WebMD, News-Medical.Net
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