Acupuncture Works Well in War on Migraines

One of the world's oldest and most popular complementary treatments, acupuncture, even sham ones, works just as well as standard drugs for treating migraine headaches, German neurologists say.

For instance, one study shows that after six months of treatment, 47 percent of those people receiving traditional acupuncture, 39 percent receiving sham treatments and 40 percent of those on prescription drugs had slashed in half the number of days they spent in migraine misery, according to the British medical journal The Lancet Neurology.

Researchers at the University of Duisburg-Essen reached their conclusions after studying the effects of treatments on more than 900 patients who suffered two to six serious migraine attacks a month. As part of the research, migraine sufferers underwent either traditional acupuncture, fake acupuncture, or took beta blockers, calcium channel blockers or antiepileptic drugs.

They warned, however, that the decision to use acupuncture rests with physicians.

Traditional Chinese acupuncture, which dates back 2,500 years, involves inserting fine needles at specific energy points of the body to reduce pain. The ancient Chinese therapy has been shown to relieve nausea, stress, arthritis pain in the knee and pelvic pain during pregnancy. Sham procedure involves needles put in places that weren't traditional acupuncture points.

More than 28 million Americans suffer from migraines. Symptoms can include intense throbbing on one side of the head, distorted vision, nausea or vomiting and raised sensitivity to light, sounds and smells. Attacks can last for up to three days, prohibiting people, mostly women and people 20 to 50, from carrying out normal activities.

Over-the-counter and prescription drugs can help to relieve the pain and reduce inflammation from migraines, but many sufferers also try acupressure, homeopathy, osteopathy and physiotherapy.