A study in the British Medical Journal showed that acupuncture is an effective technique for treating tension headaches. What's more, "minimal" acupuncture techniques--needles inserted superficially into the skin at nontraditional points--work almost as well as the full, traditional version used in China.

Researchers in Germany divided 270 patients with similar symptoms into three groups for a randomized, controlled trial. Over an eight-week period, one group was treated with full traditional acupuncture, one with minimal acupuncture, and one with neither method.

Headache rates dropped by almost half among those in the "traditional acupuncture" group. On average, they experienced seven fewer days of headaches in the four weeks following the trial than they did in the four weeks preceding it.

Those in the "minimal acupuncture group" fared almost as well, with an average drop of 6.6 days with headaches. The third group only saw an average drop of 1.5 days--just a tenth less than what they had experienced prior to the study.

The researchers concluded that acupuncture works as well or better for tension headaches than treatments already accepted.

British Medical Journal http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38512.405440.8Fv1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=acupuncture&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1123167030724_8463&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=1  July 29, 2005

Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/07/050731232901.htm  August 1, 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Meridian-based energy therapies like acupuncture are quite useful for treating a number of health problems such as pain and addictions. Acupuncture is almost always better than drugs or other more invasive treatments. Headaches are so common, Americans spend more than $1 billion annually on potentially toxic pills to relieve them. There are, of course, far safer methods for treating headaches, one of them being acupuncture.The above study is not the first study to suggest acupuncture works for headaches http://www.mercola.com/2004/apr/3/acupuncture_headaches.htm   

There's no doubt acupuncture is effective for many health problems; for example, in a recent study, electrically stimulated acupuncture lowered blood pressure levels by 50 percent. If you aren't crazy about needles, however, you do have other alternatives that can be just as helpful. I have found that Emotional Freedom Technique, a needle-free acupressure energy psychology tool that uses the same energy meridians as acupuncture, is a very effective method. There is an entire section on the EFT Web site http://www.emofree.com/migraine-headache.htm  dedicated to headache relief wherein 15+ cases are described in detail.

Acupuncture Helps Fibromyalgia But What is Better? http://www.mercola.com/2001/dec/1/acupuncture.htm   

Study Finds Acupuncture Secrets http://www.mercola.com/2004/mar/17/acupuncture_secrets.htm   

Avalanche of Baby Boomers Turning to Alternative Medicine http://www.mercola.com/2005/apr/30/alternative_medicine.htm