Migraines and their treatment
There are many different types of migraines and just as many types of treatments ranging from over-the-counter medication, prescription pain relievers, or even Botox. Migraines affect approximately 12% of the U.S. population.1 They can be debilitating and affect quality of life. For more about migraines, see Cleveland Clinic.
Many of the common treatments for migraines do help alleviate the symptoms of a migraine attack, but do not prevent migraines from happening in the first place. This is where acupuncture can be a valuable treatment option.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approach to migraines
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) systematically looks at the body as a whole. An acupuncturist considers every symptom and categorizes symptoms into a pattern, commonly known as the TCM Diagnostic Pattern.
According to TCM, migraines can be caused by a number of different types of patterns. These can include:
- Stagnation – where there is a blockage of the smooth flow of energy
- Deficiency – where the body is deficient in Qi, blood, or yin
- Excess – where excess yang energy rises to the head
Migraines can be caused by one or more of these patterns. It is up to your licensed acupuncturist to determine what your best course of treatment should be.
The effectiveness of acupuncture for migraine prevention – what the research says
Researchers have been investigating acupuncture for migraines since the 1990s, and the evidence for acupuncture’s effectiveness to prevent migraines keeps growing. Below are two papers that reviewed a number of these studies and summarized their collective findings.
Acupuncture for migraine: A systematic review and meta-regression of randomized controlled trials (2024)2
- “This meta-analysis aimed to explore the relationship between the dose of acupuncture sessions, acupuncture frequency, and acupuncture duration and its effects on migraine.”
- “A non-linear dose-response relationship was found between acupuncture sessions, acupuncture frequency, and acupuncture duration and migraine attack frequency. The results of our study recommend 16 sessions of acupuncture with a frequency of 3 sessions/week and a treatment duration of 1.5 to 2 months.”
Acupuncture Versus Standard Medical Care in the Prophylactic Treatment of Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis (2025)3
- “Current evidence supports acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy in migraine prophylaxis, but challenges such as protocol heterogeneity, dropout biases, the complexities of sham‐controlled trials, and the lack of comparison data with newer innovative treatments not yet considered warrant further research.”
If you are looking for a natural, long-lasting, cost-effective alternative to long-term use of medications or neurotoxins (Botox), consider trying acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of migraines.
References
- Migraine Headaches (Cleveland Clinic) ↩︎
- Yang C, Wu M, Luo Q, Xu G, Huang L, Tian H, Sun M, Liang F. Acupuncture for migraine: A systematic review and meta-regression of randomized controlled trials. Complement Ther Med. 2024 Nov;86:103076. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2024.103076. Epub 2024 Sep 5. PMID: 39243985. ↩︎
- Pistoia F, Cesarano S, Saporito G, Albanese M, Lucenti C, Scarsella S, Liguori A, Ronchi FU. Acupuncture Versus Standard Medical Care in the Prophylactic Treatment of Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Eur J Neurol. 2025 Apr;32(4):e70160. doi: 10.1111/ene.70160. PMID: 40237227; PMCID: PMC12000925. ↩︎
