Alraek, Terje, Lee, Myeong Soo, Choi, Tae-Young et al. · BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2011 · DOI
This review looked at 26 high-quality studies testing whether complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) help ME/CFS symptoms. Researchers found that some treatments like massage, tuina, and qigong showed promise, while others like homeopathy and distant healing did not work better than placebo. Most supplements tested didn't help, except for NADH and magnesium, though the evidence overall was limited.
Many ME/CFS patients use complementary treatments seeking symptom relief from a condition with no cure. This systematic review provides an evidence-based overview of which CAM approaches have been rigorously tested and what the science currently shows, helping patients make informed decisions about their care options.
This review does not prove that CAM treatments are ineffective—rather, it shows that most have not been adequately studied or that evidence is insufficient. The exclusion of acupuncture and complex herbal medicines means this review does not address those therapies. Negative findings may reflect poor study design rather than true lack of efficacy.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Alraek, Terje, Lee, Myeong Soo, Choi, Tae-Young, Cao, Huijuan, & Liu, Jianping (2011). Complementary and alternative medicine for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review.. BMC complementary and alternative medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-87
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-alraek-2011-complementary-alternative,
author = {Alraek, Terje and Lee, Myeong Soo and Choi, Tae-Young and Cao, Huijuan and Liu, Jianping},
title = {Complementary and alternative medicine for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review.},
journal = {BMC complementary and alternative medicine},
year = {2011},
doi = {10.1186/1472-6882-11-87},
note = {PubMed: 21982120},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/alraek-2011-complementary-alternative},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/alraek-2011-complementary-alternative
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