Living with fibromyalgia can affect nearly every part of your day, from how your body feels when you wake up to your energy, sleep, ability to exercise, and the activities you’re able to enjoy.

Acupuncture offers a non-drug approach to managing fibromyalgia symptoms, including chronic pain, muscle tension, fatigue, and sleep difficulties. At Seneca Falls Acupuncture, treatments are tailored to your individual symptoms and sensitivity level. For patients with fibromyalgia, we often use a particularly gentle approach to avoid overwhelming an already sensitive nervous system.

What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that affects how the nervous system processes pain, causing increased sensitivity to pain and other sensations. Unlike pain caused by an injury to one specific area, fibromyalgia can affect multiple areas of the body at the same time.

Diagnosis is typically based on your symptoms and medical history:

– Widespread Pain Index (WPI), which asks about pain across 19 areas of the body
– Symptom Severity Scale, assessing fatigue, waking unrefreshed, and cognitive symptoms
– Generalized pain in at least 4 of 5 body regions
– Symptoms present at a similar level for at least 3 months

Fibromyalgia symptoms can fluctuate considerably. You may have periods when symptoms are relatively manageable followed by flares when pain, fatigue, or other symptoms become more intense. Stress, changes in sleep, physical activity, illness, and other factors may contribute to these fluctuations.

Common Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Fibromyalgia can affect people differently, and the intensity of symptoms may change from day to day. Common symptoms include:

– Widespread muscle and body pain
– Increased sensitivity or tenderness
– Muscle stiffness
– Fatigue
– Difficulty sleeping or waking without feeling rested
– Headaches or migraines
– Difficulty concentrating or remembering things, sometimes called “fibro fog”
– Increased sensitivity to touch, temperature, light, or sound

Some people also experience digestive symptoms, dizziness, anxiety, or depression alongside fibromyalgia.

How Acupuncture May Help Fibromyalgia

Acupuncture may help regulate the nervous system and influence how the brain and body process pain. Treatment may also support the release of the body’s natural pain-relieving chemicals and help reduce muscle tension.

Because people with fibromyalgia can be particularly sensitive to stimulation, more is not necessarily better. At Seneca Falls Acupuncture, we typically use a gentle approach for patients with fibromyalgia. Treatment is tailored to your sensitivity level and adjusted based on how your body responds.

We can also take into account concerns such as sleep, fatigue, headaches, digestion, and stress rather than focusing only on pain.

Research on Acupuncture for Fibromyalgia

Research suggests that acupuncture may help reduce pain and improve quality of life for people with fibromyalgia.

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis included 17 randomized controlled trials involving more than 1,000 patients with fibromyalgia. Researchers found that acupuncture was associated with improvements in pain, overall fibromyalgia symptoms and their impact on daily life, and the number of painful areas.

You can read the study here.

Acupuncture has also been studied for other common fibromyalgia concerns, including fatigue, sleep, and stiffness.

Common Acupuncture Treatment Plan for Fibromyalgia

For most patients with fibromyalgia, we recommend starting with one acupuncture treatment per week for eight weeks. Acupuncture is cumulative, which means that multiple treatments may be needed to see an effect. Consistent treatment gives us an opportunity to build on your progress from one appointment to the next.

Because fibromyalgia affects each person differently, we pay close attention to how you respond to treatment. Your acupuncturist may use fewer needles or a gentler treatment approach and adjust your treatments over time based on your sensitivity and response.

After your initial course of treatment, we aim to gradually space appointments farther apart while maintaining your progress. Because fibromyalgia is a chronic condition, some patients choose to continue with regular maintenance acupuncture, such as once a month, to help manage symptoms over time.

Your acupuncturist will discuss their recommendations with you at your first appointment and adjust your treatment plan based on your progress.

Why Choose Seneca Falls Acupuncture for Fibromyalgia?

At Seneca Falls Acupuncture, pain management is one of our primary areas of focus. Our licensed acupuncturists understand that fibromyalgia requires an individualized approach, and we tailor treatment to your symptoms, sensitivity level, and response to acupuncture.

Our clinic has been voted Best Acupuncture Clinic in the Finger Lakes four years in a row in the Finger Lakes Times Readers’ Choice Awards, and we have more than 110 five-star Google reviews from patients in our community.

Ready to Try Acupuncture for Fibromyalgia?

If you’re looking for additional support managing fibromyalgia, we would love to help.

Click here to schedule your first acupuncture appointment online, or contact us if you have questions about whether acupuncture may be a good fit for you. We are more than happy to talk with you.

Contact Seneca Falls Acupuncture:

Call/Text: (607) 216-8112

Email: info@senecafallsacupuncture.com

Address: 12 N. Park Street, Seneca Falls, NY 13148