Acupuncture for Chronic Headaches

Research from America: acupuncture for chronic headache. A pilot study carried out on American soldiers, has shown acupuncture to be beneficial for chronic headaches. Twenty-six participants suffering from chronic headache (mostly migraine), were treated using a standardised set of acupuncture points over a twelve week period.

The results showed a reduction in headache frequency and intensity, and this benefit was still apparent over a twelve week follow-up. There were also improvements in general quality of life scores, and reductions in depression and use of medication. Pain scores continued to decline until eight weeks after acupuncture treatment ended, and although they began to rise again by twelve weeks, they never reached baseline levels. The report authors contrast this with medication trials, where headaches return after cessation of treatment; they go on to suggest that monthly maintenance acupuncture treatments might help prevent this rise.

(The Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Chronic Daily Headache: An Outcomes Study. Military Medicine Dec 2009.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.