[Measuring pressure pain of tendons and muscles in healthy probands and patients with generalized tendomyopathy (fibromyalgia syndrome)].

A newly developed dolorimeter was tested by repeated measurements in 25 healthy volunteers to demonstrate its reliability. Repeated measurements at 12 different points demonstrated good correlation. Measurements at these points gave a highly significant difference between 100 patients with generalized tendomyopathy (fibrositis-syndrome/fibromyalgia) and a group of 50 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers.

[Acupuncture and laser treatment in cervical and lumbar syndrome].

Eight random groups, each of 15 patients with tendomyotic cervical and lumbar syndrome, underwent acupuncture, one group receiving needle acupuncture at the "correct" sites according to Chinese medicine and another receiving placebo needles at the same sites. In a third group, acupuncture needles were applied at sites which were wholly inconsistent with Chinese practice. The remaining 5 groups took part in a single blind trial involving various types of radiation at the correct acupuncture sites, using an apparatus emitting either laser rays, red light, mixed light, infrared or no radiation at all, without interference from the therapist.