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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.
2022 Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics Role of acupuncture in the treatment of migraine Endres HG, Diener HC, Molsberger A
Review Article Headache & Migraine Migraine
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.
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.
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 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.
Currently, acupuncture is considered to be a safe, helpful, and available alternative option for patients who have not responded to or complied with conventional pharmacotherapy.
2019 Neuropediatrics Acupuncture in Adult and Pediatric Headache: A Narrative Review Doll, E., Threlkeld, B., Graff, D., et al.
Review Article Children's Health Headache & Migraine
The authors conducted an exhaustive review of existing literature exploring the use of acupuncture to address migraine headaches in children. This review encompassed understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of acupuncture, studies on adult headaches, pediatric headache studies, consideration of acupuncture's safety, and its application in other health conditions present in children.
The findings of this review suggested that acupuncture emerges as a safe and effective treatment option for migraine in children. Evidence proposes that it can be effectively integrated into the primary treatment regime to reduce the child's discomfort and pain. The effectiveness of acupuncture comes with the added advantage of being safe, with negligible risks, especially important when dealing with young patients. These insights support acupuncture to be seriously considered as an auxiliary treatment strategy for migraines in children.
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Hi Denise, the Objective/Conclusions don't appear to match this paper, can you please review?
—Jinnan C 26 Jul 2021