True acupuncture has been shown to be super to sham
acupuncture in reducing migraine and in preventing future migraine attack. A
study was recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
A large-size randomized acupuncture clinical study was
conducted to investigate the long-term effects of true acupuncture compared
with sham acupuncture in patients with migraine.
It was a 24-week randomized clinical trial (4 weeks of treatment
followed by 20 weeks of follow-up). A total of 249 participants 18 to 65 years
old with migraine without aura were randomly assigned to true acupuncture, sham
acupuncture, or a waiting-list control group. Participants in the true
acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups received treatment 5 days per week for
4 weeks for a total of 20 sessions. Four acupoints were used per treatment for
30 mins. All patients received acupuncture on 2 obligatory points, including
GB20 and GB8. The 2 other points were chosen according to the syndrome
differentiation of meridians in the headache region. The potential acupoints
included SJ5, GB34, BL60, SI3, LI4, ST44, LR3, and GB40. The use of additional
acupoints other than the prescribed ones was not allowed.
The primary outcome was the change in the frequency of
migraine attacks from baseline to week 16. Secondary outcome measures included
the migraine days, average headache severity, and medication intake every 4
weeks within 24 weeks.
Results showed that true acupuncture exhibited
persistent, superior, and clinically relevant benefits for migraine
prophylaxis, reducing the migraine frequency, number of days with migraine, and
pain intensity to a greater degree than sham acupuncture or waiting list groups.
Improvements in the emotional domain of quality of life were also found in true
acupuncture group compared with controls.
The study showed that true acupuncture may be associated
with long-term reduction in migraine recurrence compared with sham acupuncture
or assigned to a waiting list among patients with migraine without aura.
Reference
L Zhao et al., The
Long-term Effect of Acupuncture for Migraine Prophylaxis A Randomized Clinical
Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(4):508-515. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2603492
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