Originally published September 14 2005
Acupuncture can help ease fibromyalgia symptoms, study finds
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A study by the Mayo clinic shows fibromyalgia patients who receive acupuncture treatments show significant improvements, including decreased pain and relief from fatigue and anxiety.
"Our study was performed on patients with moderate to severe fibromyalgia.
It's my speculation that if acupuncture works for these patients with recalcitrant fibromyalgia -- where previous treatments had not provided satisfactory relief -- it would likely work for many of the millions of fibromyalgia patients."
Acupuncture could fill a gap in available therapies for the disease as something additive to what medications already can provide, says Dr. Martin.
The study, conducted by Mayo Clinic physicians specializing in pain management, included 50 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia for whom other symptom-relief treatments were ineffective.
The patients were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture or simulated acupuncture and were not informed which treatment they received; these treatments were administered in six sessions over two to three weeks.
All patients were given questionnaires before treatment, immediately after treatment, and at one and seven months after treatment to determine the degree of symptoms they experienced and how the disease affected their daily lives.
Following treatments, symptoms of pain, fatigue and anxiety were most significantly improved in the patients given acupuncture.
At seven months post-treatment, the patients' symptoms of pain, anxiety and fatigue had returned to baseline levels; the patients experienced the largest improvement at one month following treatment.
"In a Western view of medicine, we're modulating sensory input through acupuncture," he says.
"It's a reasonable expectation that if they received more acupuncture after two to three months, they would have maintained their improvement," he says.
He explains that fibromyalgia patients have a nervous system disorder in which they have a "revved up pain threshold" which is exacerbated by stress and inadequate sleep.
Usually it comes as a welcome diagnosis when these patients learn it's fibromyalgia.
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