Traditional Chinese Medicine for Treatment of Fibromyalgia: Research Method Differences and Why

I was inspired to write this by a post an MD content provider made in his Forum (in the Fibromyalgia/Chronic Pain section at Lumigrate), and thought I could post it here as well, as the topic of 'research' related to acupuncture comes up frequently.  ~~ April

Much of the success of Traditional Chinese Medicine in treating many ailments can be attributed to skilled practitioners making differential diagnoses within the framework of Chinese medicine.  For example, I may see 10 different patients with the Western biomedical diagnosis of FM, and from a TCM perspective, each of those 10 patients may have a different TCM diagnosis and therefore 10 very different treatment plans. 

In terms of research, Chinese medicine (including acupuncture and Chinese herbal therapy) does not fit the gold standard of biomedical research of the double-blinded randomized placebo studies most scientists and pracititioners like to see.  It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.  For example, when researching the efficacy of a pharmaceutical agent for a specific disease, it is easy to blind the practitioner and the subject as to whether or not the true agent or sugar pill placebo is administered.  But with acupuncture, you can not blind the practitioner or the patient in any way that makes sense. 

Also, with TCM, a differential diagnosis must be made so that the appropriate treatment is administered.  If one treatment is used to treat 10 different differential diagnoses, then a TCM practitioner may expect 1 of 10 subjects to improve.  Interestingly enough, studies conducted within the current research paradigm measuring the effectiveness of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine still tend to show TCM is a more effective treatment than standard care for multiple ailments.