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Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that is performed by placing needles or pressure in specific locations on a patient’s skin to achieve a therapeutic effect. Although used to treat a variety of disorders, one of the most common applications of acupuncture is to treat chronic pain, especially headache and migraine pain. Migraines are difficult to treat, and pharmacotherapies are often the first line of treatment, although these options have many unwanted side effects, such as exacerbation of headache pain in those with chronic migraine. Many complimentary and integrative therapies are available to treat migraine (including nutraceuticals, yoga, tai chi, and biofeedback), among which acupuncture as a treatment is gaining increasing attention. In this review, we provide an overview of the current understanding of both acupuncture and migraine and of current research investigating the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating migraine and chronic migraine.
FormalPara Key Summary Points
| Acupuncture is gaining increasing attention as a viable addition to the physician's armamentarium for the management of migraine patients. |
| Evidence is available showing acupuncture’s measurable effects on both the duration and frequency of migraine attacks. |
| In many studies, acupuncture has been shown to be a safe, efficacious and readily available alternative therapy which may be beneficial to certain migraine patients. |
| Further investigation is required to ensure that the incorporation of acupuncture into migraine treatment management will have a positive outcome on patients. |
This article is published with digital features to facilitate understanding of the article. To view digital features for this article go to https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12981695.
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