Acupuncture, not pills, best cure for migraines: study

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2004

PARIS (AFP) — Acupuncture is the best treatment for people who suffer from chronic headaches, according to the largest study into the effectiveness of this therapy for treating migraines.

British doctors recruited 401 patients who suffered from several days of severe headache each week.

Patients were allotted randomly to a group that received up to 12 acupuncture treatments per week, or to a control group that received conventional headache treatment, based on medication.

Each volunteer was asked to complete a diary, detailing the frequency and severity of their headaches and medicine use, for four weeks at the start of the study; again at three months; and finally at one year.

In the acupuncture group, the severity of headaches fell by 34 percent...