An Effective Migraine Treatment Predates Modern Medicine-CurrentLens

An Effective Migraine Treatment Predates Modern Medicine

2025-02-05 17:42:48 Source： Classification：Focus

The sophisticated state of modern medicine has allowed a whole menu of effective migraine treatments to become available, from new oral medications to electronic headgear. But according to experts, sometimes the most effective treatment is one that’s been around for millennia.

“Acupuncture,” says Dr. Niushen Zhang, a neurologist and chief of the Headache Division of Stanford Medicine’s Department of Neurology. “The studies have gotten better and better.”

According to ancient Chinese medicine, energy in the body flows through a system of meridians, or energy channels. When that energy isn’t circulating efficiently, it can cause pain. Acupuncture pricks into the meridian system, enabling energy to circulate again. For migraine sufferers, it seems to really work.

One 2017 study, which offered needle pricks and placebos to 249 people with migraine found that “true acupuncture significantly reduced the frequency of migraine attacks, compared with sham acupuncture.” And a review of almost two dozen distinct clinical trials involving nearly 5,000 people determined that in almost two-thirds of migraine patients receiving acupuncture, migraine frequency dropped by half.

Even so, the science remains elusive even to experts in the field. “The bottom line is there’s actually a lot that we don’t understand in terms of how acupuncture works,” says Dr. Zhang. “We think that there are probably neurochemical changes that happen, the release of certain neurotransmitters that occur when needling is being done. Similar to many other migraine treatments, the ultimate goal is to calm down that hypersensitivity of migraine brain.”

Acupuncture falls into an umbrella of migraine remedies called complementary integrative treatments. Also in this category are such treatments as lifestyle modifications—think exercise or keeping a consistent sleep schedule—vitamin supplements, and behavioral regulation like relaxation training.

Neurologists see serious promise in these approaches for stemming the effects of migraine. “Yoga, meditation, mindfulness practices, relaxation techniques and biofeedback all do similar things, and can lead to lower frequency of headache, or resolution of a headache as its beginning,” says Dr. Morris Levin, director of the UCSF Headache Center. “That’s pretty interesting.”

But if effective oral medications already exist for migraine patients, why are doctors even exploring therapies like yoga or relaxation? While headache medicine is still unearthing the full nature of migraine, researchers have learned that headache doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but are related to other health conditions affecting someone’s life. “I always tell my patients that migraine is often the body’s downstream response to other underlying medical issues,” says Dr. Zhang. “So if someone has out of control high blood pressure or sleep apnea or depression, all of those can contribute to development of migraine symptoms.”

“That's why the treatments are kind of all over the board,” says Dr. Wade Cooper, director of the Headache and Neuropathic Pain Clinic at University of Michigan Health. “If you have a lot of issues with sleep causing migraine, then our focus is helping you sleep better.”

Complementary integrative treatments expand the avenues to migraine mitigation that doctors can offer patients. This is especially helpful if a patient is apprehensive about taking an oral medication.

On the other hand, apprehension—of both patients and their providers—can cut both ways. “I think there are still people who dismiss acupuncture,” says Dr. Zhang. “I think that’s why it’s important for us, as physicians, to look at the literature, to look at the science of everything.” It might reveal that people do things for thousands of years because they’re onto something.