Acupuncture relieves symptoms of fibromyalgia, Mayo Clinic study finds
Category: Pain/Anesthetics News
Fibromyalgia patients treated with six sessions of acupuncture
experienced significant symptomatic improvement compared to a group
given simulated acupuncture sessions according to a new Mayo Clinic
study. The findings will be presented at the 11th World Congress of the
International Association for the Study of Pain in Sydney, Australia.
"This study shows there is something real about acupuncture and its
effects on fibromyalgia," says David Martin, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic
anesthesiologist and the study's lead investigator. "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. "There's not a cure available, so patients are often left
somewhat frustrated by continuing pain and fatigue," he says.
"Acupuncture is one of the few things shown to be effective for these
symptoms. It may be particularly attractive to patients who are unable
to take medications because of intolerable side effects."
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.
Patients who received acupuncture experienced minimal side effects.
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.
"We expected the acupuncture to improve the pain," says Dr. Martin. "We
didn't really expect the largest benefit to be in fatigue or anxiety."
Dr. Martin hypothesizes that acupuncture affects symptoms such as
anxiety and fatigue because it may target the root cause and not the
daily symptoms of fibromyalgia. "In a Western view of medicine, we're
modulating sensory input through acupuncture," he says. "Whenever
there's an input to the nervous system, it responds and adapts to the
input -- sometimes in ways that are beneficial to patients. This is not
so different from the traditional Eastern explanation of acupuncture
that describes needles as altering the flow of life energy, called Qi."
The Mayo Clinic researchers noted that although the patients saw
improvement in symptoms which had reduced activity level, physical
function did not increase even though the patients were less tired and
felt less pain. "This doesn't surprise me, as we see this pattern in
other chronic pain problems: you can relieve pain, but it's a lot
harder to prompt activity changes," says Dr. Martin. "A chronically ill
person needs more than symptom relief to resume a normal lifestyle.
We're now beginning to work on that problem."
Dr. Martin indicates that he believes the study patients would have
seen sustained improvement with ongoing acupuncture. "It's a reasonable
expectation that if they received more acupuncture after two to three
months, they would have maintained their improvement," he says.
"Acupuncture usually works for about three months, and then patients
need a less-intensive treatment session. These patients would need more
acupuncture periodically for as long as they experience fibromyalgia
symptoms."
The patients were unable to guess whether they had been given the real
or the simulated acupuncture. "This was critical, because this had been
a shortcoming of other previous studies with acupuncture -- the
simulated acupuncture treatments were not believable to the patients,"
says Dr. Martin.
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. "You can take blood tests, X-rays, muscle
tests, and you will find nothing abnormal," he says. "Many fibromyalgia
patients suffer suspicion from their spouses and friends that their
symptoms are 'all in their head' or that they lack sufficient will or
fortitude to meet their obligations to work, family and friends.
Usually it comes as a welcome diagnosis when these patients learn it's
fibromyalgia. Then they can learn ways to cope with the disorder and
gain strength from sharing with others who have the same problems."
Dr. Martin describes the patients in this study as moderately
debilitated. "Many have given up work, a lot of recreational
activities, and made adjustments in their lives," he says. "They have
had a significant psychological burden as a result of the loss of these
activities; it's become part of their identities."
Dr. Martin says he'd recommend acupuncture for patients who are
receptive to the concept. The acupuncture used in this study is
available in most communities. Dr. Martin says that to find a qualified
acupuncturist, "Talk to your doctor. Many physicians are open to
complementary medical techniques and can refer you to qualified
practitioners in your area. There are also excellent resources on the
Internet from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine (http://nccam.nih.gov)."
Joining Dr. Martin in this research were Mayo Clinic investigators
Christopher Sletten, Ph.D.; Ines Berger, M.D. (currently practicing at
the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta); and Brent Williams.
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Lisa Lucier
lucier.lisa@mayo.edu
507-284-5005
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medi...p?newsid=29670
