There was low- quality evidence that acupuncture  improves pain compared to no treatment or st and ard treatment , but good evidence that it is no better than sham acupuncture .
The evidence for homoeopathy , spinal manipulation and herbal medicine was limited .
No firm conclusions were drawn for efficacy of either spinal manipulation or homoeopathy for FM .
Background Fibromyalgia ( FM ) is a chronic , debilitating pain disorder .
Dissatisfaction with conventional medicine can lead people with FM to turn to complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) .
Two previous overviews of systematic review s of CAM for FM have been published , but they did not assessed for risk of bias in the review process .
Effects of acupuncture to treat fibromyalgia: A preliminary randomised controlled trial
Background Acupuncture is often used to treat fibromyalgia ( FM ) , but it remains unclear whether acupuncture is effective . This study aims to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on pain and quality of life ( QoL ) in FM patients . Methods Sixteen patients ( 13 women and 3 men aged 25 - 63 years ) suffering from FM were r and omised into two groups : group A ( n = 8) received five acupuncture treatments after the fifth week and group B received ten acupuncture treatments . Outcome measures used in this study were pain intensity ( visual analogue scale , VAS ) and the fibromyalgia impact question naire ( FIQ ) . Results After the fifth week , pain intensity ( U = 25.0 ; P = 0.022 ) in group B decreased and QoL ( U = 24.5 ; P = 0.026 ) improved compared to group A. Conclusion The present study suggests that acupuncture treatment is effective to relieve pain for FM patients in terms of QoL and FIQ
There was low- quality evidence that acupuncture  improves pain compared to no treatment or st and ard treatment , but good evidence that it is no better than sham acupuncture .
The evidence for homoeopathy , spinal manipulation and herbal medicine was limited .
No firm conclusions were drawn for efficacy of either spinal manipulation or homoeopathy for FM .
Background Fibromyalgia ( FM ) is a chronic , debilitating pain disorder .
Dissatisfaction with conventional medicine can lead people with FM to turn to complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) .
Two previous overviews of systematic review s of CAM for FM have been published , but they did not assessed for risk of bias in the review process .