The ancient Chinese therapy cuts by half the rate of headaches in a study of 270 people.
Dr. Wolfgand Weidenhammer, of the Center for Complementary Medicine Research in Munich, and his team compare traditional Chinese acupuncture, minimal acupuncture, (where needles are inserted superficially in the skin), and no treatment whatsoever.
The headache rates in patients treated with acupuncture over eight weeks, drop by almost half, experiencing 7 fewer days of headaches in the four weeks after treatment.
Patients given minimal treatment have a similar result, with 6.6 fewer headache days. Meanwhile, the group receiving no treatment experiences 1.5 fewer days.
Some patients in the acupuncture group report side effects, including dizziness and brusing.
Acupuncture has also been shown to help relieve nausea, stress, arthritis, knee pains, and pelvic pains common during pregnancy.
