Acupuncture for migraine patients proved as effective as standard drug therapy in reducing the number of attacks — but so did sham acupuncture, according to a German study.
The report, published online March 2, 2006 by TheLancet Neurology, presented the findings from the German Acupuncture Trials migraine study, a randomized, controlled trial of 960 patients with two to six serious migraine attacks a month.
A surprising result was the efficacy of sham acupuncture, the researchers wrote. “Ultimately, one could argue that the efficacy of treatment, especially a treatment with almost no adverse events or contraindications, is more important than the knowledge of the mechanism of action of this particular therapy,” Dr. Diener concluded. “The decision whether acupuncture should be used in migraine prevention remains with the treating physician.”
