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Acupuncture for treating fibromyalgia.

John C Deare¹, Zhen Zheng, Charlie C L Xue

¹Compmed Health Institute, Southport, Queensland, Australia; and Traditional & Complementary Medicine Program, Health Innovations Research Institute, Discipline of Chinese Medicine, School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, 3083.

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

|June 4, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

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Acupuncture, particularly electro-acupuncture (EA), shows potential benefits for fibromyalgia pain and stiffness compared to no treatment or standard therapy. However, its effectiveness compared to sham acupuncture is less clear, with benefits not sustained long-term.

Area of Science:

Integrative Medicine
Rheumatology
Pain Management

Background:

Fibromyalgia affects a significant portion of the population, with many seeking complementary therapies like acupuncture.
Acupuncture is a common treatment choice for fibromyalgia patients within two years of diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for managing fibromyalgia symptoms.
To compare different acupuncture techniques, including electro-acupuncture (EA) and manual acupuncture (MA), against control and standard treatments.

Main Methods:

A comprehensive literature search was conducted across multiple databases up to January 2012.
Included randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials assessing invasive acupuncture for fibromyalgia.

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Outcomes measured included pain, physical function, fatigue, sleep, well-being, stiffness, and adverse events.

Main Results:

Low-quality evidence suggests electro-acupuncture (EA) improved pain, well-being, stiffness, and fatigue compared to no treatment.
Moderate-quality evidence indicates acupuncture (EA or MA) was not superior to sham acupuncture, except for reduced stiffness.
Adjunct acupuncture therapy showed moderate-quality evidence for reducing pain when added to standard therapy.

Conclusions:

Acupuncture, especially EA, may offer benefits for fibromyalgia pain and stiffness, but evidence compared to sham acupuncture is moderate.
Benefits appear to last up to one month but are not maintained at six months; acupuncture is generally safe.
Further large-scale studies are needed to confirm findings due to small sample sizes and methodological limitations.