The authors investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture compared with
minimal acupuncture (superficial needling at non-acupuncture points)
and no acupuncture (waiting list group) in patients with tension-type
headache. Three randomized, controlled, multicenter trials; 28 outpatient
centers in Germany; 270 patients (74% women, mean age 43 years) with
episodic or chronic tension-type headache. Acupuncture and minimal acupuncture
administered by specialized physicians for 12 sessions per patient over
8 weeks. The number of days that patients experienced headaches during
the evaluation period decreased by 7.2 days in the acupuncture group
compared with 6.6 days in the minimal acupuncture group and 1.5 days
in the no acupuncture group. The proportion of patients who had at least
a 50% reduction in days with headache was 46% in the acupuncture group,
35% in the minimal acupuncture group, and 4% in the waiting list group.
Investigators conclude that acupuncture was more effective than no treatment
but not significantly more effective than minimal acupuncture for the
treatment of tension-type headache. Melchart D, Streng A, Hoppe A, Brinkhaus
B, Witt C, Wagenpfeil S, Pfaffenrath V, Hammes M, Hummelsberger J, Irnich
D, Weidenhammer W, Willich SN, Linde K, Melchart D. Adapted from BMJ.
2005 Jul 29.
Free Full-text Article from BMJ: PMID 16055451
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16055451&query_hl=48
Credit: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the
National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
|
