Randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for women with fibromyalgia: group acupuncture with traditional chinese medicine diagnosis-based point selection
Open accessAbstract
Background: Group acupuncture is a growing and cost-effective method for delivering acupuncture in the United States and is the practice model in China. However, group acupuncture has not been tested in a research setting. Objective: To test the treatment effect of group acupuncture vs group education in persons with fibromyalgia. Design: Random allocation two-group study with repeated measures. Setting: Group clinic in an academic health center in Portland, Oregon. Subjects: Women with confirmed diagnosis of fibromyalgia (American College of Radiology 1990 criteria) and moderate to severe pain levels. Methods: Twenty treatments of a manualized acupuncture treatment based on Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis or group education over 10 weeks (both 900 minutes total). Weekly Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) and Global Fatigue Index at baseline, five weeks, and 10 weeks and a four-week follow-up were assessed. Results: Thirty women were recruited, with 78% reporting symptoms for longer than 10 years. The mean attendance was 810 minutes for acupuncture and 861 minutes for education. FIQR total, FIQR pain, and Global Fatigue Index all had clinically and statistically significant improvement in the group receiving acupuncture at end of treatment and four weeks post-treatment but not in participants receiving group education between groups. Conclusions: Compared with education, group acupuncture improved global symptom impact, pain, and fatigue. Furthermore, it was a safe and well-tolerated treatment option, improving a broader proportion of patients than current pharmaceutical options.
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Strong evidence indicated that neural therapy reduces disability in adults with fibromyalgia in the medium term.
“However, strong evidence showed that NT were effective in the medium term [34,35].”
From Effectiveness of non-pharmacological conservative therapies in adults with fibromyalgia: A systematic review of high-quality clinical trials (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
The Results (Primary Outcome Analysis—FIQR Total; page unavailable) report improved fibromyalgia impact after group acupuncture, not neural therapy. The Discussion (page unavailable) calls the evidence preliminary and says follow-up lasted only four weeks, contrary to the attribution of strong evidence for a medium-term effect. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredStrong evidence indicated that neural therapy reduces fatigue in adults with fibromyalgia in the short term.
“Strong evidence showed that NT reduced significantly fatigue in the short term [12,34].”
From Effectiveness of non-pharmacological conservative therapies in adults with fibromyalgia: A systematic review of high-quality clinical trials (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
The Global Fatigue Index results report a statistically significant short-term improvement in fatigue, but the treatment was group acupuncture in women with fibromyalgia, not neural therapy. The Discussion calls the evidence preliminary, so it does not support the claim of strong evidence for neural therapy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn Mist et al. (2018), the acupuncture group improved on all measured variables at 14 weeks (P < 0.01).
“G1 improved in all variables at 14 weeks (P < 0.01).”
From Effectiveness of non-pharmacological conservative therapies in adults with fibromyalgia: A systematic review of high-quality clinical trials (2022) · cites this paper as Mist et al. (2018)
The Primary Outcome Analysis and Global Fatigue Index sections report significant improvement in the acupuncture group at the four-week follow-up (14 weeks), with P < 0.001; the paper also reports significant improvement in pain. But the Outcome Measures section lists multisensory sensitivity as another measured variable, and our copy does not report a significant improvement for it. Thus, 'all variables' is broader than the reported results support. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn Mist et al. (2018), the acupuncture group improved on all measured variables (P < 0.01).
“G1 improved in all variables (P < 0.01).”
From Effectiveness of non-pharmacological conservative therapies in adults with fibromyalgia: A systematic review of high-quality clinical trials (2022) · cites this paper as Mist et al. (2018)
Evidence on the effectiveness of neural therapy for disability in adults with fibromyalgia in the short term was contradictory.
“There was contradictory evidence about the effectiveness of myofascial release and NT in the short term [12,29,34,35].”
From Effectiveness of non-pharmacological conservative therapies in adults with fibromyalgia: A systematic review of high-quality clinical trials (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
The Abstract and Discussion address acupuncture for fibromyalgia, including mixed evidence about acupuncture, but do not address neural therapy or its short-term effect on disability. Searches for neural therapy, NT, myofascial release, and contradictory short-term evidence found no passage supporting the attributed claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Evidence on the effectiveness of myofascial release for disability in adults with fibromyalgia in the short term was contradictory.
“There was contradictory evidence about the effectiveness of myofascial release and NT in the short term [12,29,34,35].”
From Effectiveness of non-pharmacological conservative therapies in adults with fibromyalgia: A systematic review of high-quality clinical trials (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
The Abstract reports mixed evidence for acupuncture in fibromyalgia, and the Outcome Measures section describes a function measure. Neither addresses whether short-term evidence for myofascial release on disability was contradictory. Searches for myofascial release and disability found no relevant passage in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.77)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
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- Authors
- Mist, S. D., & Jones, K. D.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mist, Scott D
- Venue
- Pain Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-02-13
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1862-1871
- ISSN
- 1526-2375 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-4637
- PMC
- PMC6127237
- OpenAlex
- W2792413156
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 4.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Pain Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (K23AT006392-01)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000128)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Myofascial pain diagnosis and treatment
- Keywords
- group acupuncture, fibromyalgia, traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis, acupoint selection, group education, women, chronic pain, fatigue, symptom impact, safety and tolerability
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Female, Fibromyalgia, Humans, Medicine, Chinese Traditional, Middle Aged, Acupuncture Therapy, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult
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