Recent Approaches and Development of Acupuncture on Chronic Daily Headache

Chronic daily headache (CDH) is a very important part of primary headache disorder, and it causes heavy socioeconomic burden. An increasing number of people are suffering from CDH, and there are many treatment choices for the different subtypes of CDH. However, the definite effect of these treatments, especially the non-pharmacologic treatments, is still unclear and controversial. Acupuncture, a key component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has an over 2500-year history in China as an effective non-pharmacologic method for chronic pain, but the researches on CDH are limited. Varying stimulations and the acupoints can be chosen for different acupuncturists, and there are many primary and secondary assessments of the therapeutic effect. Although acupuncture has been shown to have potential effects on CDH, it requires much deeper researches on the optimized usage and underlying mechanisms.