The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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  • Recent Comments

    Hydrotherapy for fibromyalgia: 2 reviews

     There’s evidence that hydrotherapy has short-term beneficial effects on pain and quality of life, according to reviewers at Technische Universität München, in Germany.

    First, the details.

    • Data from 10 out of 13 studies of 446 people treated for about 240 minutes were included in the meta-analysis.
    • Only 3 studies had a moderate quality score based on their van Tulder score.

    And, the results.

    • There was moderate evidence of a significant reduction in pain and improved health-related quality of life at the end of therapy.
    • There was also moderate evidence that these benefits could be maintained for about 14 weeks.

    The bottom line?
    Yes, the evidence is positive. However, as the authors concluded, “There is a risk to over-estimate the effects of hydrotherapy due to methodological weaknesses of the studies and to small trials included in meta-analysis.

    Late last year, a different group of reviewers from the University of Ulster, in Northern Ireland who also conducted a meta-analysis of the data from 10 studies. They concluded, “There is strong evidence for the use of hydrotherapy in the management of fibromyalgia syndrome.

    7/19/09 21:18 JR

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