Headaches & Migraines
According to the recently updated American Migraine Study, there are more than 28 million Americans who suffer from migraines or severe headaches. This is equal to nearly 13% of all Americans (roughly 80% of whom are women). Though a doctor should be your first visit to rule out significant neurological or cardiovascular problems, the treatment options of western medicine are limited. Most pain medication prescribed simply masks the pain, giving only temporary relief, and can sometimes even cause "rebound headaches" making the original pain return. According to a new analysis conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers, Acupuncture has even been shown to be more effective than medication in reducing the severity and frequency of chronic headaches.
In the past year alone, 3 separate studies have come out showing Acupuncture's effectiveness in not only relieving the symptoms and pain of these debilitating episodes, but in decreasing their frequency and preventing them from coming on in the first place. A recent British study showed that after an 8 week course of Acupuncture: "Patients receiving acupuncture experienced 22 fewer days of headache per year, used 15% less medication, made 25% fewer visits to their GP and were absent from work through sickness 15% less than the control group." (British Medical Journal, March 2004)
There are many different types of headaches and the beauty of Acupuncture is that everyone is treated holistically as an individual. Chinese studies have shown Acupuncture's effectiveness to be even greater when this is taken into account.
Recent Research
Here are a list of studies, showing the efficacy of acupuncture in treating headaches and migraines, and conditions related to it:
- Acupuncture for chronic headache in primary care: large, pragmatic, randomised trial
Andrew J Vickers, assistant attending research methodologist,1 Rebecca W Rees, research officer,2 Catherine E Zollman, general practitioner,3 Rob McCarney, research officer,4 Claire M Smith, senior trials coordinator,5 Nadia Ellis, lecturer,6 Peter Fisher, director of research,7 and Robbert Van Haselen, deputy director of research. BMJ. 2004 March 27; 328(7442): 744. doi: 10.1136/bmj.38029.421863.EB. Copyright © 2004, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - Acupuncture in patients with tension-type headache: randomised controlled trial
Dieter Melchart, director, researcher,1,7 Andrea Streng, researcher,1 Andrea Hoppe, researcher,1 Benno Brinkhaus, internist,4 Claudia Witt, epidemiologist,4 Stefan Wagenpfeil, statistician,2 Volker Pfaffenrath, neurologist,5 Michael Hammes, neurologist,3 Josef Hummelsberger, internist,5 Dominik Irnich, anaesthetist,6 Wolfgang Weidenhammer, biostatistician,1 Stefan N Willich, professor,4 and Klaus Linde, epidemiologist. BMJ. 2005 August 13; 331(7513): 376–382. doi: 10.1136/bmj.38512.405440.8F. Copyright © 2005, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.