Unfortunately many people endure chronic pain from headaches and migraines because they simply are not aware of the evidence supporting the benefits of acupuncture. Acupuncture has been shown to be effective for headache and migraine at the highest levels of research evidence (systematic reviews) 1, 2.
Headaches and migraines can be triggered by tension in your neck and shoulders, previous injuries, viruses, hormonal changes, foods or have an unknown cause and simply occur throughout life, particularly at times of being run down or stressed.
A systematic review on acupuncture treatment for migraines reported the following 2:
”Our findings about the number of days with migraine per month can be summarised as follows. If people have six days with migraine per month on average before starting treatment, this would be reduced to five days in people receiving only usual care, to four days in those receiving fake acupuncture or a prophylatic drug, and to three and a half days in those receiving true acupuncture.”
The above systematic review also found that for migraine treatment the number and frequency of treatment had a significant impact on the benefits: mainly that a course of 16 total treatments at twice per week was almost twice as effective than a course of 12 treatments. These findings highlight the importance of completing a course of treatment, much like you would with a course of anti-biotics. Treatment frequency and consistency means better results.
For chronic tension-type headaches a systematic review found:
“The available results suggest that acupuncture is effective for treating frequent episodic or chronic tension-type headaches..” and called for head to head studies comparing acupuncture to other treatment options 1.
Just as the cause of headaches and migraine can vary, so can clinical outcomes; sometimes just one treatment can provide seemingly miraculous results, others take a course of strategic treatment to resolve. This is why we diagnose and treat every client based on their own unique symptom presentation. We use advanced distal acupuncture techniques to get the best possible results for our patients.
We recommend acupuncture for the treatment of headaches and migraines due to the strong supporting scientific evidence. If you suffer these conditions please contact us or book an appointment online:
Dr Scott Baker is a registered acupuncturist practicing in Burleigh Waters, Gold Coast. To find out if he may be able to assist with pain, fertility, digestion, hormones, sinus, allergies or other conditions call and book a consultation today or book online at www.alliedacupuncture.com.au
Allied Acupuncture Gold Coast, 2 Executive Drive, Burleigh Waters. 07 5522 1691.
References:
1. Linde, K et al. ‘Acupuncture for tension-type headache’, Cochrane Library, 2016.
2. Linde, K et al., ‘Acupuncture for preventing migraine attacks’, Cochrane Library, 2016.