Individualised acupuncture treatment is efficacious for pain relief and improving quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia, compared with placebo treatment. Spanish researchers randomly assigned 164 fibromyalgia patients to receive either individualised acupuncture (IA) or sham acupuncture (SA). Both groups received one treatment session per week in addition to usual pharmacological treatment, for 10 weeks. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 10 weeks, six months and 12 months. At the end of the treatment period, those receiving IA reported a significant decrease in pain intensity compared with the sham group (41.2% vs 27.1%). This difference between the two groups in terms of reduction in pain scores persisted at 12-month follow up (19.9% in the treatment group compared with 6.1% in the sham group). Fibromyalgia impact scores, fatigue, anxiety and depression were also found to be significantly better in the IA group across all time points.

Acupuncture for fibromyalgia in primary care: a randomised controlled trial. Acupunct Med. 2016 Feb 15. pii: acupmed-2015-010950.

Credit The Journal of Chinese Medicine.