Many trials have been carried out in the western world on treating migraine patients with acupuncture and they have proved that it works. (see www.acupuncture.org.uk.  then look under their research tab).

The protocol they found that gave the most consistent results was one that followed weekly treatments for 6 weeks then fortnightly treatments for a further 6 weeks. This gives a total of 9 treatments over a 3 month period.

After this time the migraines should either have disappeared or have been reduced to headaches which disappear with minimal medication and this has certainly been the experience in my practice.

For headache rather than migraine sufferers I recommend a course of 6 treatments at weekly intervals by which time we will be able to judge progress and see if any more sessions are required.

 However there are always a few patients for whom acupuncture doesn’t seem to work but so far I have found this to be down at the 10% level, with 90% of patients having a positive result.

As with all problems treated by Chinese acupuncture I will take a full history so that I can find out the underlying cause of your migraines or headaches. This will lead me to choose the right set of points for you and your symptoms according to Chinese principles.

Usually the points are on the lower arm and lower leg. If you don’t have a bad head at the time of treatment I may also use a couple of points on the temples. I promise these are just as pain free as all the others I use.

One thing to remember when you book your first appointment for treatment is that it may stir things up and trigger a migraine or headache so choose a day when you haven’t anything planned for the evening. It only happens about 50% of the time but I don’t want to ruin your plans!