Traditional Chinese Medicine is the most used complementary and alternative medicine in treating fibromyalgia, showing significant improvement in physical and mental health outcomes.
The study performed a systematic review across several databases, including PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Web of Science, for randomized controlled trials on the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in fibromyalgia treatment up until December 2023. The Quality Assessment of Controlled Intervention Studies tool was utilized to evaluate the methodological quality of the selections. From an initial pool of 216 articles, 15 were chosen to be part of the final sample.
The evidence gathered from this systematic review suggests that a variety of CAM techniques, notably Traditional Chinese Medicine, Japanese natural harmonization (such as Reiki), Ayurvedic Medicine, and other non-drug therapies are in wide use to treat fibromyalgia. Of these, Traditional Chinese Medicine was the most common. Significantly positive outcomes in both physical and mental health were evidenced through the majority of clinical trials compared to the control groups. Despite the variety of interventions and outcomes observed, all exhibit a potential effectiveness in fibromyalgia treatment.
