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 .
Effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
CONTEXT Fibromyalgia syndrome ( FMS ) is a prevalent musculoskeletal disorder associated with pain , mood state alteration , and disability . A structured and effective treatment plan for palliative care has not been established . The genesis of FMS is not clear . FMS occurs primarily in adult women . DESIGN Using a quasi-experimental clinical design and following the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology ( ACR ) , for FMS , 21 participants completed the study . The mean age was 53.6 years . The data were collected at baseline and at 1 and 2 months . Acupuncture treatments included 17 points for FMS symptoms , and 8 outcome measures were collected . RESULTS The Fibromyalgia Impact Question naire ( FIQ ) showed significant differences at 1 and 2 months . For the SF-12 , 3 subscales showed significant differences between baseline and 2 months . Four of 6 items were significantly changed . The mean number of general health symptoms was significantly decreased by 2 months . For the Catastrophe Index , significant differences were found for baseline vs 2 months . Pain threshold scores were significantly different at end of treatment for 5 bilateral tender points . There was significant improvement in Beck Depression items for both 1- and 2-month periods . In a multivariate regression model , 5 covariates were included -- age , number of weeks in treatment , number of doctors treating , number of general symptoms , and baseline FIQ score . The results indicated significant age effect . This analysis showed that the higher the FIQ score , the more positive the change experienced by study participants . Number of weeks in treatment , number of doctors who treated , and total number of general health symptoms did not have a significant effect on outcomes . CONCLUSIONS Significant improvement was experienced by participants at 8 weeks of treatment . Acupuncture treatment as delivered was effective at reducing FMS symptoms in this outcome study
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 .