Traditional Chinese medicine in diagnosis and treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome.

Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FS) is known for the difficulties arising from classification. The accompanying pain in skeletal muscles, myofascial peri-articular structures and a number of polymorphic symptoms cannot be separated into complexes of symptoms. The application of principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) helps in analyzing the symptoms of FS to detect a leading syndrome and thereby establish an individual therapy. Medical histories and objective examinations of 25 patients with FS and 22 patients with vertebrogenic pain syndromes were analyzed according to TCM. A questionnaire was used to determine the leading constitutional type according to the 5-elements-theory. Analyses of the results showed that 83% of patients with FS were of constitutional type of the element earth. The following syndromes were found to be important in FS: 1) liver-Qi-stagnation, 2) Yin and blood deficiency of the liver, 3) Yang-weakness of the spleen and kidney, 4) Yin-weakness of the kidney. Applying TCM for FS allows for separating a group of symptoms and thus individual therapy. The determination of the constitutional type according to the 5-elements-theory may be used for a better understanding of the disharmony pattern.