Acupuncture is effective for preventing chronic tension-type headache (CTTH), according to a study carried out by Chinese authors. In a randomised trial the 218 subjects had suffered from tension-type headaches for an average of 22 days per month over an average of 11 years. Participants in the intervention group received 20 sessions of true acupuncture (TA group) over eight weeks. The 30-minute acupuncture treatments were standardised, and each acupuncture point was needled to elicit a deqi sensation. Participants in the control group received superficial acupuncture (SA group) at the same points without elicitation of deqi, with the same treatment frequency and number of sessions. A treatment responder was defined as a participant who reported at least a 50% reduction in the monthly number of headache days (MHDs). At week 16, the responder rate was 68.2% in the TA group versus 48.1% in the SA group, while at week 32 it was 68.2% in the TA group versus 50% in the SA group. The reduction in MHDs was 13.1 days in the TA group versus 8.8 days in the SA group at week 16, while at week 32 the reduction was 14 days in the TA group versus 9.5 days in the SA group.
Reference:
Acupuncture for Patients With Chronic Tension-Type Headache: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Neurology. 2022 Jun 22;10.1212/WNL.0000000000200670.
