In a randomized controlled trial involving 50 fibromyalgia patients by Albers J et al. – Osteopathy School Germany – it was shown that osteopathy helps with fibromyalgia. Ten osteopathic treatments were performed over a period of 12 weeks. Pain improved with osteopathic intervention as well as with the application of a single osteopathic approach – General Osteopathic Treatment – while it increased minimally in the control group. The average pain intensity (API) was determined using the visual analog scale (VAS), as were the pressure pain threshold and the severity of the condition.
If you are interested in the exact data:
Methodology: The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial with two osteopathic interventions and one untreated control group. Patients in both osteopathic groups received 10 osteopathic treatments (OI or GOT) over a 12-week period. The control group received no osteopathic treatment. The primary outcome was the average pain intensity (API) determined using the visual analog scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes were the pressure pain threshold, assessed using a tender point score, and the severity of the disease, determined using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ).Results: 50 patients were randomized. The primary outcome parameter, API, decreased from 7.2 to 4.7 in the OI group, from 6.3 to 4.3 in the GOT group, and increased slightly from 6.2 to 6.6 in the control group. There were significant differences in the change in API between the OI group and the control group (VAS: 2.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12–4.52) and between the GOT group and the control group (VAS: 2.4, 95% CI = 0.65–4.11), but no significant differences between the OI group and the GOT group. For the secondary outcome parameters, there were no significant differences between the groups. Albers, J., Jäkel, A., Wellmann, K., von Hehn, U., Schmidt, T., 2018. Effectiveness of 2 Osteopathic Treatment Approaches on Pain, Pressure-Pain Threshold, and Disease Severity in Patients With Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Complementary Medicine Research, 25(2), 122-128. https://doi.org/10.1159/000464343.
