Studies from University of Sao Paulo, Medical Department add new findings in the area of fibromyalgia.

In this recently published study, investigators in Sao Paulo, Brazil conducted a study "To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for fibromyalgia. Fifty-eight women with fibromyalgia were allocated randomly to receive either acupuncture together with tricyclic antidepressants and exercise (n = 34), or tricyclic antidepressants and exercise only (n=24)."

"Patients rated their pain on a visual analogue scale. A blinded assessor evaluated both the mean pressure pain threshold value over all 18 fibromyalgia points and quality of life using SF-36. At the end of 20 sessions, patients who received acupuncture were significantly better than the control group in all measures of pain and in 5 of the SF-36 subscales. After 6 months, the acupuncture group was significantly better than the control group in numbers of tender points, mean pressure pain threshold at the 18 tender points and 3 subscales of SF-36. After one year, the acupuncture group showed significance in one subscale of the SF-36; at 2 years there were no significant differences in any outcome measures. Addition of acupuncture to usual treatments for fibromyalgia may be beneficial for pain and quality of life for 3 months after the ...