Acupuncture for the Prevention of Tension-Type Headache

Tension-type headache (TTH) is one of the most common forms of headache, often related to muscle tension and stress. Many patients seek acupuncture as a non-drug treatment option, but its effectiveness has been debated. This Cochrane systematic review (updated in 2016) evaluated the scientific evidence on whether acupuncture can help prevent frequent or chronic tension-type headaches.

Study Overview

  • Included Studies: 12 randomized controlled trials (total of 2,349 participants)
  • Comparisons Made:
    1. Acupuncture vs. routine care or acute treatment only
    2. Acupuncture vs. sham (placebo) acupuncture
    3. Acupuncture vs. physiotherapy, massage, or exercise

 Key Findings

  • Compared with routine care:
    Acupuncture significantly reduced headache frequency.
    About 45–48% of patients receiving acupuncture reported at least a 50% reduction in headache frequency, compared to 4–19% in control groups.
  • Compared with sham acupuncture:
    Acupuncture showed a modest but meaningful benefit.
    51% of patients improved by at least 50%, compared to 43% with sham treatment (Risk Ratio 1.3; 95% CI 1.09–1.5).
  • Compared with other therapies:
    When compared to physiotherapy, massage, or exercise, acupuncture showed similar effectiveness.
  • Safety:
    Very few participants dropped out due to side effects, indicating that acupuncture is a safe and well-tolerated treatment.

Overall

Current evidence suggests that acupuncture is effective and safe for reducing the frequency of tension-type headaches, particularly for people with frequent or chronic symptoms. However, more high-quality studies are needed to directly compare acupuncture with other preventive treatments.

Acupuncture offers a valuable non-drug option for managing chronic tension-type headaches, improving quality of life with minimal side effects.

References

  1. Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, Fei Y, Mehring M, Shin BC, Vickers A, White AR. Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016 Apr 19;(4):CD007587. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007587.pub2

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