Insights & Discussion
A 6-week course of acupuncture proves as effective as 6-month drug prophylaxis for migraines, with specific Chinese point selection and stimulation appearing less important.
The study began by revisiting previous research on acupuncture as a treatment for headache, finding shortcomings in many of these studies. It explored the influence of acupuncture on migraine and how it potentially functions. The methodology involved running several large, randomized trials comparing the use of acupuncture to conventional prophylactic drug treatments, spanning a time frame of six weeks to six months, respectively.
In the discussion of the results, it was found that the 6-week acupuncture treatment was just as effective in treating migraines as the 6-month drug treatment. Specific attributes of the acupuncture treatment, such as the selection and stimulation of Chinese points and the depth of the needles, were found to have lower significance than traditionally believed. The paper therefore suggested the integration of acupuncture into existing migraine therapy protocols.
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True acupuncture over an eight-week period is effective for reducing the frequency of chronic tension-type headache.
2022 Neurology Acupuncture for Patients With Chronic Tension-Type Headache Zheng H, Gao T, Zheng QH, Lu LY, Hou TH, Zhang SS, et al.
Randomised Controlled Trial Headache & Migraine
In a randomized controlled trial, 218 participants diagnosed with chronic tension-type headache were divided into an intervention group and a control group, with the study conducted from June 2017 to September 2020. The intervention group received 20 true acupuncture sessions over 8 weeks, where each acupuncture point was needled to achieve a sensation, each session lasting 30 minutes. The control group received the same number of superficial acupuncture sessions, serving as a make-believe treatment, where the needling avoided inducing sensations at the acupuncture points.
The results showed a trend towards greater effectiveness of true acupuncture. By week 16, the 'responder rate' (participants reporting at least a 50% reduction in monthly headache days) was higher in the true acupuncture group compared to the superficial acupuncture group, with similar results by week 32. These findings suggest that true acupuncture, involving the creation of a sensation at each acupuncture site, can noticeably reduce chronic tension-type headaches. This was observed without noting significant adverse events, hinting towards the safety of the procedure.
Acupuncture could be as effective as pharmacological drugs for migraine prevention, with improved patient compliance and fewer adverse events.
2021 Frontiers in Neurology A Randomized Clinical Trial on Acupuncture Versus Best Medical Therapy in Episodic Migraine Prophylaxis: The ACUMIGRAN Study Giannini G, Favoni V, Merli E, Nicodemo M, Torelli P, Matrà A, et al.
Randomised Controlled Trial Migraine
In the study, patients experiencing migraines who hadn't undergone preventive treatment in the prior 3 months were randomly divided into two groups. Group A underwent 12 acupuncture sessions, while Group B received a range of suitable medications for each individual. The frequency of headaches was compared at the beginning and end of treatment, and both groups were assessed after three and six months post-treatment.
Results highlighted that both treatments led to a significant decrease in headache frequency. Of the patients, around 34% saw a 50% reduction of headache days post-treatment. The improvements seen at the end of treatment were maintained in 57.3% of patients three months after and in 38.8% of patients six months after, notably in the acupuncture group. Based on this data, acupuncture can be seen as an effective alternative for migraine prophylaxis.
In many studies, acupuncture has been shown to be a safe, efficacious and readily available alternative therapy which may be beneficial to certain migraine patients.
2020 Neurology and Therapy Acupuncture and Its Role in the Treatment of Migraine Headaches Urits I, Patel M, Putz ME, Monteferrante NR, Nguyen D, An D, et al.
Systematic Review Headache & Migraine
Migraines are difficult to treat, and current treatment options have many unwanted side effects, such as exacerbating headache pain in those with chronic migraine. Therefore, while the primary treatment for migraines is drug therapy, acupuncture is gaining increasing attention as a viable addition to the treatment management of migraine patients due to its measurable effects on both the duration and frequency of migraine attacks. Many studies suggest that acupuncture is a safe, helpful and available alternative therapy that may be beneficial to certain migraine patients. Nevertheless, further large-scale RCTs are warranted to further consolidate these findings and provide further support for the clinical value of acupuncture.
Acupuncture reduced more headache days and the times of using painkiller and was more effective in reducing the frequency and degree of headache than western medicine and sham acupuncture.
2020 Pain Research & Management Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture for Migraine: An Overview of Systematic Reviews Li YX, Xiao XL, Zhong DL, Luo LJ, Yang H, Zhou J, et al.
Systematic Review Headache & Migraine
Based on high quality of evidence, we conclude that acupuncture is more effective and safer than medication or sham acupuncture in the treatment of migraine. However, the methodological quality, risk of bias, and reporting quality of SRs in acupuncture for migraine still needs improvement in future.
There is growing evidence that acupuncture is just as effective and has fewer side effects than many of the standard pharmaceutical agents that are currently used.
2019 Headache Systematic Review: Acupuncture vs Standard Pharmacological Therapy for Migraine Prevention Niushen Zhang, Tim Houle, Nada Hindiyeh, & Sheena K. Aurora
Systematic Review Headache & Migraine
Out of the 706 search results, 7 clinical trials, with a total of 1430 participants, met inclusion criteria for trials comparing the effectiveness of acupuncture to standard pharmacologic treatment. Several of the studies showed acupuncture to be more effective than standard pharmacological treatments for migraine prevention; however, methodological heterogeneity precluded aggregation of these data.
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