Efficacy of Dry Needling and Acupuncture in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Juan Antonio Valera-Calero, César Fernández- de-las-Peñas, Marcos José Navarro-Santana () and Gustavo Plaza-Manzano
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Juan Antonio Valera-Calero: VALTRADOFI Research Group, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health, Universidad Camilo José Cela, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain
César Fernández- de-las-Peñas: Department of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28933 Alcorcón, Spain
Marcos José Navarro-Santana: Faculty of Health, Universidad Católica de Ávila (UCAV), 05005 Ávila, Spain
Gustavo Plaza-Manzano: Grupo InPhysio, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), 28040 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-32

Abstract: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome that involves chronic pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and impaired quality of life and daily functioning. In addition to medical and psychological therapies, other therapies including acupuncture and dry needling aim to reduce pain and disability in patients with FM. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of dry needling and acupuncture in patients with FM regarding pain, function and disability in both the short and the long term. MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for randomized controlled trial studies evaluating efficacy data of dry needling or/and acupuncture treatments to improve pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and impaired quality of life and/or daily function. A qualitative analysis including the methodological quality and a systematic data synthesis was performed. A total of 25 studies addressed the selection criteria. Most studies had an acceptable methodological quality. Four studies assessed the effect of dry needling, and twenty-one studies assessed the effect of acupuncture. In general, both interventions improved pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, stiffness, quality of sleep and quality of life. However, both techniques were not compared in any study. Acupuncture and dry needling therapies seems to be effective in patients with FM, since both reduced pain pressure thresholds, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbances and disability in the short term. It is still required to compare both techniques and their application in the long term.

Keywords: fibromyalgia; dry needling; acupuncture; chronic diseases; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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