MUNICH, Germany, May 3 (UPI) -- Migraine patients undergoing acupuncture experienced no decrease in headaches compared with those receiving sham acupuncture treatment, German scientists say.
Dr. Klaus Linde of the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, Technische Universitat Munich, Germany, investigated whether acupuncture reduced headache frequency more effectively than sham acupuncture or no acupuncture in patients suffering migraine headaches.
The researchers found no difference in the number of headaches detected between the acupuncture and the sham acupuncture groups, but there was a difference between the acupuncture group compared with the control group.
"In our trial, acupuncture was associated with a reduction of migraine headaches, compared with no treatment; however, the effects were similar to those observed with sham acupuncture and may be due to non-specific physiological effects of needling, to a powerful placebo effect, or to a combination of both," the authors wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
