Acupuncture, placebo stops headaches

MUNICH, Germany, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Acupuncture is an effective treatment for prevention of headaches and migraines, but so is a placebo, German researchers said.

Researchers Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the Technical University of Munich tried to establish whether acupuncture could reduce the occurrence of headaches.

One review focused on mild to moderate but frequent "tension-type" headaches, while the other focused on more severe, but less frequent migraines. Together the two reviews included 33 trials, involving a total of 6,736 patients.

The systematic reviews show that acupuncture is an effective treatment for prevention of headaches and migraines. But the results also suggest that faked procedures, placebos, in which needles are incorrectly inserted, can be just as effective.

Overall, following a course of at least eight weeks, patients treated with acupuncture suffered fewer headaches compared to those who were given only pain killers, lead researcher Klaus Linde said.

In the migraine study, acupuncture was superior to proven prophylactic drug treatments, but faked treatments were no less effective. In the tension headache study, true acupuncture was actually slightly more effective than faked treatments.

The findings are published in the Cochrane Library.