Acupuncture may provide pain relief for people with fibromyalgia, according to new study
A new study has suggested that acupuncture may ease pain in people with fibromyalgia, and improve quality of life.
The study carried out by Dr Jorge Vas and a team of researchers at the pain treatment unit at Dona Mercedes Primary Health Centre, in Seville, Spain, has said that ten weeks after being treated with acupuncture, the pain scores of patients dropped an average of 41%, compared with an average drop of 27% by those given a placebo treatment and that those benefits were still seen a year later.
Dr Vas and his team randomly assigned 153 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia to individually tailored acupuncture or a simulated acupuncture. Those involved were given nine weekly treatments, with each session lasting 20 minutes.
During a session of acupuncture, extremely thin needles are inserted through the skin at strategic body points to treat pain.
The study, published in Acupuncture in Medicine, said that nine out of 10 people with fibromyalgia try some form of alternative therapy, such as massage and acupuncture, in addition to regular pain medication, to try to relieve symptoms.
Dr Vas says, “Although it was allowed for the participants to continue with the pharmacological [drug] treatment they were taking beforehand, when the study was finished, the patients who received individualised acupuncture were taking less medication than the group on sham acupuncture.”
At a period of 10 weeks, six months and 12 months after treatment, patients were asked about perceived levels of pain and depression and their physical and mental quality of life. Patients were evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and, one year after treatment, acupuncture patients had an average 20% drop in the pain score, compared to just over 6% among those who simulated therapy.
It was reported that pressure pain and the number of tender points also improved more in patients given the real acupuncture after 10 weeks, along with improved measures of fatigue, anxiety and depression.
“Individualised acupuncture is a safe a good therapeutic option for the treatment with patients with fibromyalgia,” concludes Dr Vas.
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