Acupuncture Eases Tension Headache Pain

Chinese acupuncture therapy is the ancient practice of inserting extremely thin needles into the body at precise acupuncture points along specified meridians, sometimes as much as 3 inches into the body. It has been used successfully in China for thousands of years to treat a range of medical issues, including the treatment of pain.

Recent studies by Western scientists point to the fact that acupuncture is demonstratively effective in the treatment of tension headaches. Acupuncture not only relieves headache pain, it also reduces the recurrence of tension headaches by almost 50%. A recent blind study of 270 German headache patients revealed that even minimal use of acupuncture can relieve headache symptoms.

Fewer Headaches After Treatment

Over an eight-week period, researchers followed three groups of German patients. The 1st group was treated with traditional acupuncture techniques; the 2nd group received a truncated version of acupuncture therapy in which the needles were inserted only superficially into the skin and no consideration was given to actual acupuncture points. The 3rd group was the control group and received no treatments of any kind.

The test subjects were monitored for 4 weeks after the initial period of treatment. In the follow-up, individuals in the control group had little change in their headache symptoms, recording only 1.5 fewer headaches than during the initial treatment period. Those in the 1st group, who had received traditional acupuncture, reported 7 fewer headaches. Those in the 2nd group, who received the truncated acupuncture therapy, reported 6.6 fewer headaches.

Furthermore, the headache rate continued to decline for several months after the initial period of acupuncture treatment, which is in keeping with the claims of acupuncture therapy, which states that the needle treatment is bringing the body back into energetic alignment, and that illness and disease are the result of imbalance.

Results Subject to Interpretation

Researchers in the German study speculated that the similarity in results between traditional and minimal acupuncture techniques indicate that the location of acupuncture points and depth of needle insertion may be insignificant in the successful treatment of tension headache. They could not, however, rule out the possibility of a placebo effect for those treated in the non-traditional technique.

A placebo effect is evident in many medical studies. In western medicine, blind studies often find evidence of the placebo effect creating similar results to trial drugs.

Regardless of the presence of a placebo effect, the German study clearly indicated that acupuncture treatments can reduce the severity and reoccurrence of tension headaches.