A bout 6%-8% of men and 16%-18% of women in the United States and England experience migraines, with or without an aura.1,2 A prevalence of 1% has been reported in mainland China, 3 compared with 4.7% in Hong Kong and 9.1% in Taiwan.4,5 A recent Cochrane meta-analysis suggests that acupuncture as migraine prophylaxis is safe and effective and should be considered as a treatment option for willing patients. Although the specific effects acupuncture are controversial, acupuncture, as it is currently practised, clearly differentiates between real acupuncture points and nonacupuncture points. The Chinese Government launched the National Basic Research Program to obtain more data about the specificity of acupuncture points. 7Trials from Italy and Brazil 8,9 showed that acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture in preventing migraines, but other trials have reported no differences. [10][11][12][13] There is no evidence that one acupuncture strategy is more effective than another for treating migraines. According to acupuncture theory, a headache on the lateral side is usually defined as a Shaoyang headache. In Jinkuiyi, 14 migraines are said to affect the yang meridians (including the Taiyang, Yangming and Shaoyang meridians). In Lingshu, 15 the Shaoyang meridians are said to go through the lateral side of the body, therefore the Shaoyang meridians are thought to be superior for treating migraines. Some points on the Shaoyang meridians are regarded as being more specific for migraines than other points. Research CMAJ Background: Acupuncture is commonly used to treat migraine. We assessed the efficacy of acupuncture at migraine-specific acupuncture points compared with other acupuncture points and sham acupuncture. Methods:We performed a multicentre, singleblind randomized controlled trial. In total, 480 patients with migraine were randomly assigned to one of four groups (Shaoyangspecific acupuncture, Shaoyang-nonspecific acupuncture, Yangming-specific acupuncture or sham acupuncture [control]). All groups received 20 treatments, which included electrical stimulation, over a period of four weeks. The primary outcome was the number of days with a migraine experienced during weeks 5-8 after randomization. Our secondary outcomes included the frequency of migraine attack, migraine intensity and migrainespecific quality of life.Results: Compared with patients in the control group, patients in the acupuncture groups reported fewer days with a migraine during weeks 5-8, however the differences between treatments were not significant (p > 0.05). There was a significant reduction in the number of days with a migraine during weeks [13][14][15][16] was a significant, but not clinically relevant, benefit for almost all secondary outcomes in the three acupuncture groups compared with the control group. We found no relevant differences between the three acupuncture groups.Interpretation: Acupuncture tested appeared to have a clinically minor effect on migraine prophylaxis compared with sham acupuncture.