The treatment of headaches employing acupuncture

Thirty-three patients have been treated by acupuncture since July 8, 1974, using body loci, ear points and electrical stimulation. Of the 33 cases, 18 were female and 15 were male, ranging in age from 25 to 77 years. Sixteen patients suffered from migraines, 12 from tension headaches, 2 from cluster headaches, 1 from vascular headaches, and for 2 patients the etiology was uncertain. The duration of the headaches ranged from 3 months to 40 years. The patients received from 3 to 16 treatments. Of the 33 cases, 5 patients had only 3 treatments and 10 patients had 5 or less treatments. Eighteen patients had good results, i.e., no headache at all. Twelve patients had fair results, that is they sometimes had headaches, but they could be controlled with a few repetitions of treatment or by analgesics at a lesser dosage than they were taking at the beginning of treatments. Three patients had no response at all or poor results; however, these discontinued treatment before the author could evaluate whether they were actual absolute no-response cases. Of the 33 patients, 2 patients had a good response after only 2 treatments; 4 had a good response after 10 treatments. However, most of the patients had a good response after 6-8 treatments. A course of treatment usually requires 10 to 14 visits befor definite evaluation of the results can be made. It was observed that patients with fair or particularly poor results usually discontinued treatment too early and/or had concomitant conditions as well. Even though a longer period of time for follow-up is necessary before drawing any conclusions, results have already shown that acupuncture, perhaps, can be a valuable form of treatment for headaches.