Chinese investigators performed a well-designed, randomized trial to investigate the efficacy of true Chinese acupuncture compared with two different sham acupuncture approaches for the treatment of acute migraine attacks. Real acupuncture was superior to sham acupuncture, but the absolute pain relief was minimal.
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H. C. Diener and the German Acupuncture Trials Study Group received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to conduct several large-scale trials of the efficacy of acupuncture for the preventive treatment of migraine and tension-type headache.
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Diener, HC. Is acupuncture clinically viable for treating acute migraine?. Nat Rev Neurol 5, 469–470 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2009.129
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2009.129