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 .
Healthcare provided by a homeopath as an adjunct to usual care for Fibromyalgia (FMS): results of a pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.
OBJECTIVES To assess the feasibility of a R and omised Controlled Trial ( RCT ) design of usual care compared with usual care plus adjunctive care by a homeopath for patients with Fibromyalgia syndrome ( FMS ) . METHODS In a pragmatic parallel group RCT design , adults with a diagnosis of FMS ( ACR criteria ) were r and omly allocated to usual care or usual care plus adjunctive care by a homeopath . Adjunctive care consisted of five in depth interviews and individualised homeopathic medicines . The primary outcome measure was the difference in Fibromyalgia Impact Question naire ( FIQ ) total score at 22 weeks . RESULTS 47 patients were recruited .  Drop out rate in the usual care group was higher than the homeopath care group ( 8/24 vs 3/23 ) . Adjusted for baseline , there was a significantly greater mean reduction in the FIQ total score ( function ) in the homeopath care group than the usual care group ( -7.62 vs 3.63 ) . There were significantly greater reductions in the homeopath care group in the McGill pain score , FIQ fatigue and tiredness upon waking scores . We found a small effect on pain score ( 0.21 , 95 % CI -1.42 to 1.84 ) ; but a large effect on function ( 0.81 , 95 % CI -8.17 to 9.79 ) . There were no reported adverse events . CONCLUSIONS Given the acceptability of the treatment and the clinical ly relevant effect on function , there is a need for a definitive study to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of adjunctive healthcare by a homeopath for patients with FMS
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 .