Kelsey Healing Arts

The following is a study demonstrating acupuncture’s efficacy on acute migraines:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22536889

Verum (real) acupuncture demonstrated greater improvement in the migraine than did sham (fake) acupuncture. Sham acupuncture is when the needles are just pressed against the skin, or inserted into points that have no basis for treating a
migraine using the Eastern diagnostic and treatment system. It is the preferred way of blinding subjects in the control arm of a study, for they think they are getting acupuncture, as they can feel the needle’s tip, but an acu-point of clinical relevance, as determined by the principles of Eastern medicine, is not stimulated.

The second article tests the prophylactic use of acupuncture to prevent migraines:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22019576

The number of days in a month with a migraine was halved with acupuncture, whereas the topiramate (originally an anticonvulsant, but frequently used for migraines) group saw 25-40% improvement. 6% of the acupuncture group had side effects, whereas 66% of the topiramate group experienced adverse effects. Side effects of acupuncture are usually short lived, and at worse are an exacerbation of the symptoms. Topiramate has many side effects, some of which are nasty.

Here is a less favorable review. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22231691

It essentially suggests that all needles that were inserted had the same effect regardless of the intention of the point selection. Shao-yang, and Yang-ming are two of the six aspects of the yin-yang symbol, the skinny white part and the little white circle respectively. The body is divided up into the six divivsions of yin and yang, so the shao-yang points are on a certain part of the body, while the yang-ming points are on another. Points along the shao yang are used to treat the acute aspect of a migraine. Yang ming treatments aid in things where there is inflammation, or slightly excessive amounts of blood in the head. I am assuming the sham group was needles that were just touched to the skin, as the category of non-shao-yang specific acupuncture is the rest of acupuncture that isn’t shao-yang.

This case is interesting, in that it exhibits the strength of the placebo effect caused by the sensation of needles inserted into the body, into actual acu-points, as opposed to sham acupuncture. Stimulating the needles with electricity (a practice that isn’t uncommon nor standard) probably added to the placebo effect.

The conclusion of this study is not that acupuncture is mere placebo effect. Had the shao-yang treatment been used for the acute  migraine attack, as the first article was treating, the results would probably have been favorable. The third article was examining acupuncture’s prophylactic treatment of migraines, something we deem to fall under the chronic stage of disease. The ideal treatment for chronic migraines, or migraine prophylaxis, incorporates the jue-yin aspect of the body, which the article did not address. This is an example of the study being conducted without a sufficient understanding of Eastern medicine. Had they incorporated jue-yin treatments, it would very most likely have shown a more clinically relevant result.