Acupuncture Treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was firstly defined in 1988 by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome has ranged from 0.4 to 1% in the general population. Its pathophysiology remains unknown despite of intensive research on several pathological factors (e.g. infection, immune systems, neuroendocrinology, autonomic activity, and neuromuscular dysfunction). Its complex clinical manifestation may stem from physical, biopsychosocial and many other causes. On the other side, the therapeutic treatment for CFS is very limited in clinical settings. Recently, acupuncture treatment for CFS has gradually attracted physicians’ attention. Based on Chinese medicine theory, acupuncture can promote the circulation of “meridian qi”, regulate “qi” and “blood”, balance “yin” and “yang”, and thus restore the function of “Zang-Fu” organs via acupuncture signals generated from acupoints. Indeed, clinical practice has shown that acupuncture significantly relieves the clinical symptoms of CFS patients and improve the quality of their life. Simple acupuncture at appropriate acupoints or combined with electro-stimulation, blood-letting acupuncture, acupoint catgut embedding, acupoint injection, auricular acupuncture therapy, abdominal acupuncture, moxibustion and cupping treatment haven been used in the treatment of CFS with satisfactory outcomes. This chapter systematically reviews the progress in this field based on a broad search in the literature and our experiences.