A Chinese group has found that acupuncture is significantly superior to sham for the treatment of acute migraines. One-hundred and fifty patients who were having a migraine attack were randomly allocated to either verum or sham acupuncture. Rescue medication was allowed if the pain had not improved within two hours of receiving acupuncture. Mean visual analogue pain scores 24 hours after treatment were significantly different between the two groups. In the verum acupuncture group pain scores were found to have decreased by 2.4, compared with a decrease of only 0.7 in the sham acupuncture group. (Efficacy of acupuncture for acute migraine attack: a multicenter single blinded, randomized controlled trial. Pain Med. 2012 May;13(5):623-30).
Categories: Headache migraine
