ACUPUNCTURE FOR HEADACHES/MIGRAINE

ACUPUNCTURE FOR MIGRAINES

In a prestigious Cochrane review of 22 trials which investigated whether acupuncture is effective in the treatment of migraine it was found that those patients who received acupuncture had fewer headaches. In trials in which acupuncture was compared to a proven drug treatment, patients receiving acupuncture mainly reported more improvement and fewer side effects. Collectively, the studies show that migraine patients benefit from acupuncture. Long-term follow up saw that there was continued benefit 9 months after treatment.

The review summary stated “there is consistent evidence that acupuncture provides additional benefit to treatment of acute migraine attacks only, or to routine care.  Available studies suggest that acupuncture is at least as effective as, or possibly more effective than, drug treatment, and has fewer adverse effects. Acupuncture should be considered a treatment option for patients.”

MIGRAINES HELPED BY ACUPUNCTURE

MIGRAINES – ACUPUNCTURE BENEFICIAL STUDIES SHOW
The government funded, prestigious, Cochrane review has found that there is consistent evidence that acupuncture is beneficial in the treatment of acute migraine attacks and as a preventative treatment, with better results and fewer adverse effects than drug treatment.

Two recent studies showed that drug therapy had little benefit. Acupuncture was used with 3 different classical acupuncture systems of point selection and one series of non acupuncture points. All had approx 10 needle insertions and all the needles of all 4 selections were connected to electro current stimulation. All 4 types of acupuncture got significant results for acupuncture with the non acupuncture point selection getting slightly less results than the 3 classically selected points.

An international team of researchers, including Dr. Fan-rong Liang at Chengdu University in China, found that between 50 percent and 75 percent of those with migraines felt better after acupuncture, after 16 weeks.

Another study found an intervention promoting prevantitive drug treatment failed to reduce migraine sufferers' attack frequency or severity, a randomized study indicated, while a separate trial of acupuncture found that it was significantly beneficial.

The monthly control baseline average number of migraine attacks was about six. After acupuncture treatments migraine attack counts fell to about two during the final four weeks of the study in the classical acupuncture groups and to about three with the non classical treatment. The same pattern was seen for migraine and pain intensities.

In an accompanying editorial, Albrecht Molsberger, MD, of Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, said “Acupuncture should be an option for the first-line treatment of migraine along with other non drug treatment options."

ACUPUNCTURE BENEFITS HEADACHE SUFFERERS.

The Government funded Cochrane Research found that acupuncture is an effective prevention for “tension type” and “migraine type” headaches. Two studies included 33 trials and more than six thousand patients. Patients had at least eight weeks of acupuncture treatment and suffered less headaches than those control groups given appropriate standard medical drugs. And those given acupuncture had no side effects.