Effects of Meditation on Fibromyalgia
Elisa H. Kozasa, Luiza H. Tanaka, Carlos Monson, Stephen Little, Frederico Camelo Leao and Mario P. Peres

Meditation is the third most commonly requested complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy reported in a US survey. Those who suffer from chronic pain are those who most frequently use CAM therapies. This review aims to evaluate whether meditation-based interventions can help the treatment of fibromyalgia. A PubMed search was conducted using the terms “fibromyalgia” and “meditation”, or “mindfulness”, or “mantra” or “relaxation response”. We selected articles which clearly described a meditation intervention being used in the treatment of fibromyalgia. Only four articles were classified with score 3 in the Jadad scale. Another seven articles were included in this review. Most of the results indicate improvement in fibromyalgia-related symptoms in patients who participated in a meditation-based intervention. Considering only 4 of the 13 studies achieved a score of 3 on the Jadad scale, researchers of meditation interventions should discuss the best methodologic control for these studies.