Efficacy of acupuncture for the prophylaxis of migraine: a multicentre randomised controlled clinical trial

Diener, Hans‐Christoph; Kronfeld, Kai; Boewing, Gabriele; Lungenhausen, Margitta; Maier, Christoph; Molsberger, Albrecht; Tegenthoff, Martin; Trampisch, Hans–Joachim; Zenz, M.; Meinert, Rolf

doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(06)70382-9

Cited by 375 publications

(340 citation statements)

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“…Another German randomized controlled trial (n = 794) showed that 11 acupuncture treatments given within a six-week period was at least as effective as a β-blocker taken daily over a six-month period. 3,4 As a consequence of these and 20 other high-quality trials involving 4419 participants, the 2009 Cochrane review by Linde and colleagues 5 found that there is consistent evidence that acupuncture is beneficial in the treatment of acute migraine attacks and that the available studies suggest that acupuncture is at least as effective as prophylactic drug treatment and has fewer adverse effects. Therefore, acupuncture should be considered an option for patients willing to undergo this treatment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Role of acupuncture in the treatment of migraine

Endres¹,

Diener²,

Molsberger³

2007

Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics

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I n general, the harder a medical problem is to treat, the more treatment strategies exist. This observation is certainly true for migraine. Patients and physicians are constantly looking for alternatives to drug therapy, which is effective in the short term but may have severe unwanted effects in the long term.Nonpharmacologic treatments begin with common-sense advice, such as educating patients about headache and its management, identifying and managing triggers (e.g., keeping a headache diary) and modifying lifestyle. Some evidence exists for the benefit of behavioural treatment (e.g., relaxation, biofeedback, and cognitive-behavioural therapy).1 Riboflavin and coenzyme Q10 significantly decreased the frequency of migraine attacks, and the prophylactic efficacy of magnesium, particularly for children and migraines related to menstruation, has been substantiated.2 Alpha lipoic acid has not been shown to reduce the frequency of migraine, and there is no clear evidence to support or refute homeopathy.2 In general, most studies for these types of treatments are small and of low methodologic quality. This is no longer the case for acupuncture. A German randomized controlled trial (n = 302) showed that acupuncture is more effective than no acupuncture. Another German randomized controlled trial (n = 794) showed that 11 acupuncture treatments given within a six-week period was at least as effective as a β-blocker taken daily over a six-month period.3,4 As a consequence of these and 20 other high-quality trials involving 4419 participants, the 2009 Cochrane review by Linde and colleagues 5 found that there is consistent evidence that acupuncture is beneficial in the treatment of acute migraine attacks and that the available studies suggest that acupuncture is at least as effective as prophylactic drug treatment and has fewer adverse effects. Therefore, acupuncture should be considered an option for patients willing to undergo this treatment. 5Additional randomized control studies published since the 2009 review are in keeping with this conclusion. Yang and colleagues found that 24 acupuncture treatments, compared with topirmarate, were more effective and safe (11 times more patients experienced adverse effects in the topirmarate group than in the acupuncture group). Wang and coauthors reported that acupuncture was more effective than flunarizine in decreasing the duration of migraine attacks. 6,7 Acupuncture has also been shown to be more effective than standard therapy for the treatment of tension headache, osteoarthritis, shoulder pain and lower back pain, with fewer unwanted adverse effects. 8-12These clinically important results are accompanied by another finding that is common in acupuncture studies: there is no evidence of an additional effect of "true" acupuncture over "sham" acupuncture. 5 The current trial by Li and colleagues 13 did not find a significant difference between traditional Chinese and sham acupuncture in the number of days with a migraine during the study period, but a significant difference wa...

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mentioning

confidence: 98%

Role of acupuncture in the treatment of migraine

Endres¹,

Diener²,

Molsberger³

2007

Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics

Self Cite

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“…The evidence for its effectiveness especially for long term prophylaxis remains inconclusive [32]. Most of the trials are faced with quality related issues in terms of blinding, methodology, sample size or choice of instruments [33]. Larger good quality clinical trials either found no difference or short term benefit over sham [34].…”

Section: Acupuncture In Migrainementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flunarazine [40], metoprolol [41,42] and some other drugs [43] were compared. Overall, the acupuncture was found to be superior in efficacy with lack of adverse events but three of the trials …”

Section: Acupuncture Vs Pharmacotherapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Acupuncture in Primary Headache Disorders; Review of the Evidence

Zaidi¹,

Ahme²

2016

J Neurol Disord

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Primary headache disorders affect large number of people worldwide. Migraine and tension type headaches constitute 95% of all headaches. Both tension type headaches and migraine impose huge socioeconomic impact on society. The role of non-pharmacological interventions in management of primary headaches is not entirely clear. Acupuncture is one of the most historical non pharmacological ways of treating migraine and tension type headaches. The evidence in support of its effectiveness however is conflicting. This review evaluates the available evidence regarding effectiveness of acupuncture for migraine and tension type headaches.

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“…The latest Cochrane meta-analysis suggests that acupuncture as a migraine prophylaxis is safe and at least as effective, if not more effective, than prophylactic drug treatment [10]. During the past decade, a considerable number of high quality clinical studies have indicated that acupuncture is able to alleviate headache degree and/or improve the QOL [11][12][13]. However, despite the popularity of acupuncture in migraine therapy, there persists limited knowledge on the physiological mechanisms behind this method, and some controversy on the superiority of verum acupuncture over sham control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, despite the popularity of acupuncture in migraine therapy, there persists limited knowledge on the physiological mechanisms behind this method, and some controversy on the superiority of verum acupuncture over sham control. Some studies suggested that the obvious influence of acupuncture on pain symptoms was either insignificant or a placebo effect [12,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%