Treating Fibromyalgia

As I promised in my response to this facebook post by the good people over at Crane Herbs, here are my thoughts on treating fibromyalgia with acupuncture:

In almost every case of fibromyalgia that I have treated, I have found strong lines of tension and a number of active points at the base of the occiput and along the midline over the cervical vertebrae. I recommend you examine this area carefully. When you are palpating, allow your search area to extend to the Gallbladder lines along the occiput, and to the HuaTuo lines along the neck.

Palpate very gently, using light short strokes with the pad of your finger. You are feeling for active points that feel like small depressions. At first, do not actively try to find the points, just try to feel the differences in the skin quality. If you palpate with this mindset and keep your finger relaxed, you will not have trouble finding the active points. If you stiffen your finger and palpate with the mindset of seeking out the points on the neck, you will feel very little. Once you have found the points, change your palpation method and make small circles to define more precisely the characteristics of the points. Often they will feel soft, “empty” and slightly spongy, and will have a light buzzing sensation that you will feel when you rest your fingertip lightly in the center of the depression. Keep your pressure very gentle while you are doing this. If you press deeply or cause any pain, you will cause the area to tense up. This will activate the Wei Qi in the area and make the active points will become more difficult to find and treat.

Insertion into these points has to be very shallow. If you are skilled at using a Teishin or Enshin, these tools are excellent for treating the active points you find. If you are using an inserted needle, use the highest quality and thinnest needle you can. A Seirin #00 would be the lowest quality needle I would recommend for this purpose. Those of you who have studied needle technique with me, I recommend Call and Response in the direction of the dominant Vector, with a target depth of about 1 mm. Those of you who have not studied with me, I recommend you learn and use Shudo Denmei’s wonderful Super-Superficial Technique. It is not the technique I use, but it is lovely, I think it should work quite well with the treatment points I have described, and a description is available on the web. You can read about it here: http://www.najom.org/essays/Shudo_Tx_of_Depression.doc

The local treatment of the area works well when combined with a root or constitutional treatment. I suggest that you keep your root treatment as simple as you can. A minimalist approach in this case helps your client focus more on the work being done on the neck. I have found that too many body needles can distract from the benefits of the local in this case. Do not rush working with the local area – the changes you make at the neck points will provide the bulk of the relief for the client.

I have found that how you position your client is also important in this treatment. What is most important is to keep the back and neck totally relaxed. If your client is uncomfortable and feels the need to lift his or her head up or tense the back and neck, it will make things difficult. Prone works well if the face-rest is comfortable. A massage chair is often a better choice for some clients. If neither is possible, try positioning the client sitting comfortably at the side of the table and leaning forward, resting on several pillows and the top of the table. Before you start examining the neck, gently feel the muscle tension in the neck and back. If the muscles are loose and the client feels relaxed, it will probably be fine.

If client position is difficult, and if you are skilled in Open Hand Acupuncture, Craniosacral Therapy, or another form of hands-on work that allows you to treat meridian and point disharmonies with your hands alone, here is another way I treat fibromyalgia: Place your client supine, and apply a simple root treatment with your needles. Seat yourself at the head of your client, and do whatever you need to do to ease into your treatment connection. Once you are “in,” use your hands to examine and release along the bones and muscles, and at the acupuncture points in the above-mentioned areas. Work lightly and take as much time as you need within your style of work to release the neck well. As with the needle technique, deep pressure into the neck or head will make treatment more difficult and will most likely not produce the desired results.

If you have any questions about what I have written here, please feel free to e-mail me, or to post comments below. I have treated many clients over the years with these methods, and have found the results to be excellent.