Sharp needles blunt pain of headaches

LONDON - Acupuncture is a useful, cost-effective treatment for patients who suffer from chronic headaches or migraine, American researchers say.

In one of the largest randomised studies to assess the effectiveness of the ancient Chinese needle treatment, scientists found it worked better than conventional treatments alone.

"People using acupuncture had fewer headaches, less severe headaches and they used less health resources over the course of the following year," said Dr Andrew Vickers, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The scientists compared acupuncture plus standard treatment to normal therapy alone in 401 patients in England and Wales who suffered from headaches several days each week. Their research is published online by the British Medical Journal.

Patients assigned acupuncture plus standard treatment received up to 12 treatments over three months.

At the end of the year-long trial the scientist noticed a big difference between the groups.

Patients receiving acupuncture had 22 fewer days of headaches per year, used 15 per cent less medication, made 25 per cent fewer visits to their family doctors and took fewer days off sick than the other group.

There were few side-effects and the treatment was cost-effective.

"For severely affected patients, acupuncture reduced the severity and the frequency of their headaches to make a real difference in their lives," Dr Vickers said.

German researchers have also said acupuncture could help women undergoing fertility treatment to conceive.

- REUTERS