21 Feb 2008 02:01:56 | Anonymous
A SHAM version of acupuncture works just as well for treating
migraine headaches as the real thing, and both fake and real
acupuncture work better than no treatment at all, a new study
has found.
German researchers divided 302 migraine sufferers into three
groups, the first receiving real acupuncture, the second fake
and the third were told to wait for treatment. By this measure,
real acupuncture succeeded with 51 per cent, and the sham
procedure succeeded with 53 per cent, a statistically
insignificant difference.
Only 15 per cent of the waiting list group attained the 50 per
cent reduction in headache days. The effectiveness of both the
sham and the real acupuncture is about the same as treatment
with drugs and has fewer side effects. The results, they
conclude, "may be due to non-specific physiological effects of
needling, to a powerful placebo effect, or to a combination of
both."
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