Fibromyalgia and Acupuncture
As our Fibro Doctors often explain: “Fibromyalgia is hard to treat, owing both to its chronicity & poorly understood pathophysiology & aetiology. Current treatments target symptoms primarily, & few attempt to address the source. Acupuncture, a form of integrative medicine, has been a part of traditional Chinese medication for generations. Evidence shows that it effectively treats different kinds of pain conditions, including migraines & chronic musculoskeletal pain. Recent studies show evidence to support its use in fibromyalgia. Clinical trials studying acupuncture in fibromyalgia have shown improvement in pain, quality of sleep, & quality of life” [1]
Did You Know?
Acupuncture was first given its formal acknowledgement as a system of therapeutics, way back in 200 BC. Indeed, for hundreds of years, the practice of acupuncture has been an intrinsic element of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). And over time, it has established itself as one of the most sought after categories of alternative and complementary medicine in the Western world. – This is particularly so in the case of long-term pain management [1].
The Low-Down on Acupuncture
Here at the London Pain Clinic, our Fibromyalgia Specialists are often asked about the validity of acupuncture. – Acupuncture can be described as the insertion of solid, thin needles into particular acupuncture points across the body via the skin. Once this is achieved, different types of manipulation are employed in order to provide therapeutic benefits.
As our Pain Specialists regularly devise Holistic Personalised Treatment Plans for our patients (after they have had an initial online or in-person consultation), sometimes Fibromyalgia sufferers may ask about acupuncture. To that end, our Fibro Doctors inform them that acupuncture is an umbrella term for different types of therapeutic methods (according to the way in which the needles are manipulated during the treatment). Such methods comprise:
- Traditional Chinese needle acupuncture
- Dry needling
- Heat acupuncture (for example, moxibustion)
- Electro-acupuncture
- Mechanical acupressure, and
- Acupuncture using a laser [1]
Flexible fine needles are inserted into the soft tissue, skin, or in some instances, into defined points on a particular region of the body (such as the hand, ear or head). The latter are referred to as:
- Hand acupuncture
- Auricular acupuncture, or
- Scalp acupuncture [1]
Once the needles are put into place, the acupuncturist can manipulate them in a number of different ways. These incorporate:
- Pressure
- Heat
- Electrical stimulation, and
- Manuel needling [1]
Generally speaking, the treatment is not painful unless the needles are placed in sensitive regions.
“Acupuncture is widely recognized in the United States and western countries as a possible therapeutic option for chronic pain conditions, including general musculoskeletal pain, migraine, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia” [1]. Here at the London Pain Clinic we acknowledge acupuncture, and our Fibro Doctors offer a broad spectrum of modalities which are incorporated into Fibro patients’ individual treatment protocols. These include:
- Conventional treatments and state-of-art pharmaceuticals
- Specialised physical therapies, and
- A range of cutting-edge injectables pain blockers (all of which can be administered during a short appointment)
Our world-class eminent Fibro Doctors are always abreast of current research on Fibromyalgia, and studies indicate that a multi-discipline treatment program can empower fibromyalgia patients with quicker and more effective results. Indeed, as the medical Wiley Online Library reports:
“Therapeutic approaches to fibromyalgia (FM) are shifting towards a combined multi-treatment approach to tackle the variety of symptoms experienced in FM ” [2]
References
[1]. Berger AA, Liu Y, Nguyen J, Spraggins R, Reed DS, Lee C, Hasoon J, Kaye AD. Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia. Orthop Rev (Pavia). 2021 Jun 22;13(2):25085. As cited by NIH.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8567806/
[2]. Valentini et al. (2020). European Journal of Pain, Volume 24, Issue 7. p. 1290-1300. As cited in Wiley Online Library.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejp.1570
