Researchers undertaking a randomised, controlled trial in China, have found acupuncture to be significantly superior to control for the treatment of acute migraine.
Over a two year period, one hundred and fifty patients recruited from five hospital outpatient departments, were randomly allocated during their acute migraine episode, to receive either true acupuncture treatment or a sham control acupuncture session. Medication was permitted if the pain had not improved within two hours of receiving acupuncture. Mean pain scores 24 hours after treatment, were significantly different for the two groups: in the true acupuncture group, scores decreased by 2.4, whereas in the control group, scores decreased by only 0.7.
(Efficacy of Acupuncture for Acute Migraine Attack: A Multicentre, Single-Blinded, Randomised, Controlled Trial. Pain Medicine, May 2012.)