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Question:
My wife has suffered with fibromyalgia for about 17 years. Recently, we have heard a great deal about acupuncture treatment success. Are there any studies that validate the use of acupuncture?
Answer:
Fibromyalgia is a poorly understood condition marked by chronic, widespread pain; other common symptoms include fatigue and poor sleep. The cause is unknown.
While exercise and medications provide some benefit, reliable and highly effective treatment is not available. As a result, people suffering with this condition, their doctors, and researchers have explored alternative treatments, including acupuncture.
To date, there are no convincing studies proving that acupuncture is an effective treatment for fibromyalgia. However, a number of studies have looked at this question. For example, two short-term studies published earlier this year found that 25 to 35 percent of fibromyalgia patients reported improvement in pain after the insertion of acupuncture needles; in some of those reporting improvement, fatigue and physical function also improved. However, most patients did not improve, and even among those who did, the location of the needles did not seem to matter — that is, a small subset of patients reported improvement regardless of whether the needles were inserted in traditional acupuncture sites or not.
Studies of other complementary and alternative treatments also report limited success. For example, hypnosis, relaxation techniques, or injections of sore areas with botulinum toxin (Botox) are recommended by some health care providers based on limited research and personal experience. However, high-quality, long-term studies demonstrating the effectiveness of these treatments have not been published.
Most of my patients with fibromyalgia who improve do so as a result of trial and error, a series of mini-experiments using standard medications (particularly amitriptyline, cyclobenzaprine or fluoxetine), regular aerobic exercise, and other non-medication approaches. I do not discourage those who are interested in acupuncture from pursuing it, but I cannot accurately predict whether it will work.
Despite the limited success of acupuncture and other therapies for the treatment of fibromyalgia, the majority of people with this condition are able to work full-time and report only modest impact on their lives.
