Electroacupuncture for Tension-type Headache on Distal Acupoints Only: A Randomized, Controlled, Crossover Trial

Objective.—To investigate the efficacy of electroacupuncture, applied to distal acupoints only, for tension‐type headache. Background.—Electroacupuncture is commonly used for tension‐type headache, but when applied to distal acupoints only, evidence of its efficacy is lacking. Design.—A randomized,...

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Published in:	Headache Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 333 - 341
Main Authors:	Xue, C. C. L., MApplSc, L. Dong, Polus, B., English, R. A., Zheng, Z., Costa, C. Da, Li, C. G., Story, D. F.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	350 Main Street , Malden , MA 02148 , USA Blackwell Science Inc 01-04-2004 Blackwell
Subjects:	acupuncture analgesia Acupuncture Points Adult Biological and medical sciences Chinese medicine Cross-Over Studies electroacupuncture Electroacupuncture - methods Extremities Female Humans Male Medical sciences Neurology Single-Blind Method tension-type headache Tension-Type Headache - therapy Time Factors Treatment Outcome Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system Tension headache Nervous system diseases Chinese medicine Central nervous system disease acupuncture analgesia Chinese Acupuncture electroacupuncture tension-type headache Cerebrovascular disease Cerebral disorder
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Summary:	Objective.—To investigate the efficacy of electroacupuncture, applied to distal acupoints only, for tension‐type headache. Background.—Electroacupuncture is commonly used for tension‐type headache, but when applied to distal acupoints only, evidence of its efficacy is lacking. Design.—A randomized, single‐blinded, sham‐controlled, crossover clinical trial. Methods.—The trial had 5 stages: baseline (2 weeks), phases I and II (each 4 weeks), washout period (2 weeks), and follow‐up (3 months after phase II). Forty patients were randomly assigned to either group A or group B. Group A received real electroacupuncture during phase I, then sham electroacupuncture in phase II. Group B received the treatments in reverse order. Outcome measures were headache frequency and duration, pain intensity using a visual analog scale, mechanical pain threshold, headache disability, and sickness impact. Data were analyzed by univariate 2‐way analysis of variance. Results.—Thirty‐seven patients completed the trial. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups at baseline. At the end of phase I, group A, but not group B, demonstrated significant improvement in mean (standard error of the mean [SEM]) headache frequency (3.0 per month [0.3] versus 12.0 per month [1.7]), duration (13.3 hours [3.5] versus 32.0 hours [6.2]), pain intensity (32.8 mm [4.1] versus 47.5 mm [2.7]), pain threshold (right side, 2.9 kg/second [0.1] versus 0.9 kg/second [0.1]; left side, 2.4 kg/second [0.1] versus 1.1 kg/second [0.1]), headache disability score (6.0 [1.0] versus 16.3 [1.6]), and sickness impact score (288.7 [48.0] versus 687.1 [77.2]). For each parameter, significant differences also were demonstrated for both groups between baseline and phase II, and baseline and follow‐up. There were no significant differences between the groups at the end of follow‐up (P > .05). Conclusion.—Electroacupuncture to distal points alone is effective for short‐term symptomatic relief of tension‐type headache.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-WQ4GHXFV-Z istex:5A003563C33CF3F7935D3207558E7423F9C7CBDE ArticleID:HEAD04077 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 ObjectType-News-3 content type line 23
ISSN:	0017-8748 1526-4610
DOI:	10.1111/j.1526-4610.2004.04077.x