OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical therapeutic effect of herb-partitioned moxibustion combined with medication on fibromyalgia syndrome.

METHODSSixty cases were randomly divided into a treatment group and an observation group, 30 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with oral administration of amitriptyline, and the treatment group with oral administration of amitriptyline and herb-partitioned moxibustion at Dazhui (GV 14), Zhiyang (GV 9), Mingmen (GV 4), Shenshu (BL 23), Guanyuan (CV 4), Shenque (CV 8), and direct moxibustion at Baihui (GV 20). After treatment of one month, their clinical therapeutic effect, and changes of the number of pain points and the scores of VAS and the HAMD depression rating scale were observed.

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 93.3% in the treatment group and 56.7% in the observation group, the former being better than the latter (P<0.01). The scores of VAS and HAMD and the number of pain points after treatment in the treatment group were better than those before treatment (P<0.01); the score of HAMD and the number of pain points after treatment in the observation group were superior to those before treatment (P<0.01), and there was no significant difference in the score of VAS before and after treatment (P>0.05). After treatment, the score of HAMD and the number of pain points in the treatment group were significantly better than those in the observation group (P<0.01), and there was no significant difference between the two groups in the score of VAS (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe herb-partitioned moxibustion combined with medication is an effective therapy for fibromyalgia syndrome.