Anyone who's suffered a migraine appreciates anything that could reduce its intensity and/or duration. According to a new research review and meta-analysis, which included 23 RCTs comparing acupuncture to flunarizine hydrochloride (brand name: Sibelium, among others), acupuncture (total of 785 adult patients among the 23 studies reviewed) achieved a greater reduction in headache intensity and headache duration compared to flunarizine (763 total patients).
The acupuncture group also reduced the frequency with which they took painkillers for their migraine pain compared to the flunarizine group; and experienced "the alleviation of paroxysmal symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting" to a greater extent than the flunarizine group.
Writing about their findings in the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi (China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica), the study authors emphasize: "The GRADE system showed that the evidence level of the above indicators was extremely low, and the strength of recommendation was low." So then, what's the clinical takeaway?
Considering the acupuncture group experienced only mild adverse reactions (localized pain, drowsiness, dizziness, etc.), acupuncture still holds promise as a potential option to reduce migraine pain and reliance on medication (all of which come with their own side effects).
For migraine patients taking flunarizine, why not see if acupuncture reduces or eliminates their need for it and/or pain relievers? The validation for these findings may be in your own clinic.
Source: Min J, et al. [Systematic review and Meta-analysis on randomized controlled trial of efficacy and safety for acupuncture versus Flunarizine in treatment of migraine.] Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi, 2020 Nov;45(21):5083-5092.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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