Acupuncture Offers Migraine Relief
This is a great article discussing the effectiveness of acupuncture on headaches and migraines. It’s important to first understand the underlying causes of the headache to properly treat it. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine can be used alone in the management and treatment of headaches, or as part of a comprehensive treatment program.
Studies around the globe have suggested that acupuncture is an effective treatment for migraines and headaches. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center analyzed the results of more than 30 studies on acupuncture as a pain reliever for a variety of ailments, including chronic headaches. They found that acupuncture decreases pain with fewer side effects and can be less expensive than medication. Researchers found that using acupuncture as an alternative for pain relief also reduced the need for post-operative pain medications.
Chronic Pain Study
An article published in the Health section of the New York Times discusses how recent research shows the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for chronic pain. The researchers, who published their results in Archives of Internal Medicine, found that acupuncture outperformed sham treatments and standard care when used by people suffering from osteoarthritis, migraines and chronic back, neck and shoulder pain. Dr. Andrew J. Vickers, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York is the lead author of the study. The results of this long study are very important because it shows evidence that disputes the claim that acupuncture is a placebo. Half of all patients being treated with acupuncture saw improvement as opposed to 30% whom did not undergo acupuncture.