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Complementary therapies
Acupuncture for headaches 'all in the mind'
Headache? Acupuncture works - even if it is all in the mind, say researchers
The ancient art of acupuncture has long been considered an effective treatment for tension headaches and migraine. But a new review suggests 'fake' acupuncture could be just as successful as the real thing.
Researchers reporting in the Cochrane Review looked at 33 different trials involving over 6,700 people who suffered from either tension headaches or migraine. The studies compared traditional acupuncture therapy with a 'sham' alternative as well as conventional drug treatments.
The review found that over the course of about two months, patients treated with acupuncture suffered from fewer tension headaches than those given painkillers. Migraine sufferers also fared better with fewer episodes recorded when treated with acupuncture compared with preventive drug treatments.
However, the review also found that 'faked' acupuncture treatments, where needles were placed into the skin randomly, were equally as effective for the migraine sufferers and only slightly less effective for the tension headache patients.
The scientists believe that patients may be benefiting from what is known as the 'placebo effect' – where patients feel better simply because they believe that they are being given an effective treatment.
'Much of the clinical benefit of acupuncture might be due to non-specific needling effects and powerful placebo effects,' said lead researcher Klaus Linde, who works at the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Acupuncture has been a treatment for a wide range of health problems for over 2,000 years in China and the Far East and is now a popular complementary therapy throughout the West.
Modern day practices are still based on the traditional Chinese philosophy that our health is dependent on balanced energy flows (or qi) which can be disrupted by emotional or physical health problems. Acupuncturists believe that by inserting fine needles into specific energy points they can stimulate the body's own healing.
'This review is very encouraging concerning the way acupuncture can help headache sufferers as it describes acupuncture treatment as more effective than painkillers or other preventative drug treatments,' says Mark Bovey, research expert at the British Acupuncture Council.
The German team conclude that acupuncture could be used as an effective alternative to drug treatments with the added bonus of having fewer side effects. However, more research is required to determine how long the benefits can last and whether more highly trained acupuncturists really achieve better results than those with only basic training.
The British Acupuncture Council www.acupuncture.org.uk
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