Tension-type headaches are considered chronic if they occur at least 15 times a month. Many people experience this type of pain. A study led by MD Ying Li from Chengdu Traditional Medicine University (China) and colleagues showed that acupuncture can help with this type of pain. It reduces the average number of days a patient has episodes of pain.
218 people participated in this study. On average, they suffered from chronic tension-type headaches for 11 years and had attacks 22 days a month. Some subjects were given deep needles (a treatment called true acupuncture), while others were given too much (shallow acupuncture). These sessions were done two or three times a week (20 procedures in total) for two months. After that, experts observed people for another six months.
It turned out that after acupuncture, the number of days with a headache decreased by at least 50 percent. Thus, 68 percent of actual acupuncture recipients said they had a reduction in the number of days per month with bouts of pain—at least 50 percent.
However, participants in actual acupuncture sessions reported that the number of days, which was 20 at the start of the experiment, dropped to 7 at the end of the study. For those treated with superficial acupuncture, the number of days dropped from 23 to 12.
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Source: Ferra
