Chinese Medicine for Fibromyalgia, A Holistic Approach

Let’s talk about fibromyalgia and Chinese medicine, which I feel is an essential tool for sufferers of this condition.

It is also a good example to use when talking about the benefit of bringing Eastern medicine into your integrative medical plan.

Western Medicine’s View of Fibromyalgia

In Western medicine, they’re not even sure what causes fibromyalgia. It exists as a collection of symptoms such as chronic fatigue, chronic pain, as well as certain cognitive issues like anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

What complicates matters is that not everyone diagnosed with fibromyalgia has the same set of symptoms, or even looks the same as other patients. The way Western medicine is set up, this makes it a little difficult to come up with a focused plan of attack for these patients.

Chinese Medicine and Fibromyalgia Treatment

Chinese medicine is different in the way they think of the human body and health, and in the way they have woven together the organs, channels, layers, and phases. Chinese medical diagnosis works by finding the symptoms here and there and getting the pattern diagnosis so you can trace these symptoms down to some core issues.

And while you may not be able to get as specific as a molecular answer that Western medicine requires, you can take the collection of symptoms resulting from Chinese medical diagnosis and start saying things that are a little bit more helpful.

For example, instead of vague problems with inflammation or vague problems with neurochemistry, with Chinese medical diagnosis you can instead say: “There’s a blockage of the defensive qi in the channels,” or “there’s damp heat stuck in the muscles.” You can then just take any of those things and, as Chinese medicine has done, work it backwards. There’s blockage in the channel? Move the channel. There’s dampness? Clear the dampness. There’s heat? Cool the heat.

If you’re interested in finding more about how we can help you with your fibromyalgia symptoms, contact us today.

Who is Dr. Perez?

Dr. Dan Perez is both a Western-trained physician and a graduate of the AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine. Based in Austin, Texas, AOMA is recognized as one of the leading schools in Chinese Medicine. Being both an expert in Western medicine and Chinese medicine, Dr. Perez offers his patients natural, minimally invasive and integrative medical options for treating a variety of chronic medical conditions.

Article Sources:

Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia, Orthopedic Reviews, June 2021

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Fibromyalgia, Practical Pain Management, September 2010

Traditional Chinese Medicine for Treatment of Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials, April 2010

Effectiveness of non-pharmacological traditional Chinese medicine combined with conventional therapy in treating fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Frontiers in Neuroscience, May 2023

Effects of traditional Chinese exercises in fibromyalgia syndrome: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, March 2024

The therapeutic efficacy of Qigong exercise on the main symptoms of fibromyalgia: a pilot randomized clinical trial, Integrative Medicine Research, December 2020

Effects of Qigong practice in quality of life, fatigue, sleep, pain and epigenetic biomarkers in adult women with fibromyalgia, Comparative Exercise Physiology, Jul 2020

Effectiveness of traditional Chinese exercise in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials, International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases,October 2023