Acupuncture Cuts Tension Headache Rates By Almost Half

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Source: British Medical Journal

Date: 2005-08-01

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050731232901.htm

Acupuncture Cuts Tension Headache Rates By Almost Half

Acupuncture is an effective treatment for tension headache, cutting

rates for sufferers by almost half, shows a study on bmj.com this

week.

And a minimal acupuncture course works almost as well as traditional

Chinese therapy, say the researchers.

In a randomised controlled trial - the gold standard of clinical

trials - researchers in Germany divided 270 patients with a similar

severity of tension headache into three groups.

Over an eight week period one set were treated with traditional

acupuncture, one with minimal acupuncture (needles inserted only

superficially into the skin, at non-acupuncture points), and one

group had neither treatment ('control' group).

Those receiving traditional acupuncture care saw their headache

rates drop by almost half - suffering 7 days less headaches over the

four weeks following the treatment. Those receiving minimal

acupuncture had 6.6 less days of headaches. While the control group

experienced 1.5 less days of headaches - a drop of just a tenth.

Improvements to headache rates continued for months after the

acupuncture treatment, though they began to rise slightly as time

went on.

Those in the 'no treatment' group were subsequently given

acupuncture for eight weeks after the main study period. These

patients also improved significantly after the treatment, though not

to the same level as those given acupuncture initially.

Of the 195 patients in the acupuncture groups, 37 reported some side

effects - the most common being dizziness, other headaches and

bruising.

Such a small difference in results between traditional and minimal

acupuncture treatments seems to indicate that the location of

acupuncture points and other aspects of traditional Chinese

acupuncture do not make a major difference for tension headache, say

the authors.

Acupuncture treatments are sometimes associated with strong placebo

effects, caution the authors. But these findings show that

acupuncture produces just as good improvements for tension headache

sufferers as treatments already accepted, they conclude.