Effect of the association of acupuncture with herbal medicine on pain management and quality of life of fibromyalgia patients: literature review

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Gabriel Maciel da
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Santos, Giovana Soler dos, Nabhan, Ana Luiza Rezende, Zardeto, Giuliana, Jacomassi, Ezilda, Boleta-Ceranto, Daniela de Cassia Faglioni
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Research, Society and Development
• Texto Completo: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/21122
• topic: Fibromialgia; Medicina herbaria; Acupuntura; Tratamiento.; Fibromialgia; Fitoterapia; Acupuntura; Tratamento.; Fibromyalgia; Herbal Medicine; Acupuncture; Treatment.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome, non-inflammatory, of unknown etiology, manifested in the musculoskeletal system, and may present symptoms in other systems. With a controversial definition, mainly due to the absence of anatomical substrate in its pathophysiology and symptoms easily confused with depression and chronic fatigue syndrome, the diagnosis is difficult. Thus, the aim of the present study was to carry out a literature review to determine the effect of the association of acupuncture with herbal medicines as a technique to be used to relieve pain and improve the quality of life in individuals with fibromyalgia. For this purpose, a literature review on the subject was carried out in the academic Google and PubMed databases between the years 1956 to 2021. Alternative and complementary medicine has been much sought after in recent years, especially by fibromyalgia patients, in which isolated conventional therapy has shown limited benefits and requires a multidisciplinary treatment. Among the alternative techniques, acupuncture, which is an ancient technique based on the stimulation of specific points of the body aiming at a therapeutic or homeostatic effect, through a reflex therapy in which the nociceptive stimulus given to the point triggers responses in other areas of the body, acting in the reduction effectively of pain, which allows to improve the quality of life of fibromyalgia patients. Herbal medicines, on the other hand, which are industrialized products obtained from medicinal plants, have great therapeutic potential in the treatment of pain and with this perspective, several studies have been conducted in the search for new treatment alternatives for patients with these pathologies.