Acupuncture Relieves Symptoms of Fibromyalgia, Mayo Clinic Study

In 2006, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found evidence that suggests acupuncture reduces the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Mayo’s study involved 50 fibromyalgia patients enrolled in a randomized, controlled trial to determine if acupuncture improved their symptoms. Symptoms of patients who received acupuncture significantly improved compared with the control group.
“The results of the study convince me there is something more than the placebo effect to acupuncture,” says David Martin, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the acupuncture article and a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist.

The take-home message from this study was not just pain relief, but improvements were noted in patients’ fatigue, anxiety level and sleep. Not surprisingly, acupuncture was well tolerated, with minimal side effects.

This study has led to a much larger study funded by the National Institute of Health which gathered patients from 2008-2010 and has not yet reported results.

Mayo Clin Proc. 2006 Jun;81(6):749-57