An acupuncture treatment may be useful for acute pain, such as dental pain.
Acupuncture is widely used in the treatment of diseases accompanied by chronic pain, although their effectiveness, according to research results, is not higher than that of conventional methods of treatment, placebo, or sham procedures.
Acupuncture has been studied in detail as a method for the prevention of migraine. According to randomized trials, true acupuncture did not show greater efficacy than placebo.
Botulinum toxin type A, routinely used in cosmetology to reduce facial wrinkles, has undergone numerous clinical trials as a means of preventing migraine. However, according to recently published information on the assessment of the effectiveness of migraine prophylaxis, it is not recommended to prescribe injections of botulinum toxin as a prophylaxis of migraine.
Such effective non-pharmacological treatment methods, such as relaxation training, psychotherapy and butterbur extract, can complement traditional treatment methods or be used as alternative prevention methods. In general, the highest effectiveness of the treatment is achieved with a combination of drug and non-drug methods.
For this reason, with rare, but severe attacks of headaches, patients prefer to take effective emergency medicines (for example, triptan), combining them with relaxation, anti-stress therapy, exercise and correction of sleep patterns. All this is done to reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches. Non-drug methods can be combined with traditional schemes for the prevention of headaches.
The use of a variety of non-drug methods in conjunction with effective drugs ensures maximum effectiveness of treatment.
Key points of nontraditional headache treatment:
– Effective nontraditional methods of treating chronic headaches include relaxation technology, stress management, the use of butterbur extract.
– Effective non-pharmacological methods of treatment have the same efficiency as traditional methods, they can be used as a first-line treatment and as monotherapy.
– Moderately effective complementary therapies include exercise, lifestyle changes, and the use of certain natural products.
– Moderately effective treatment methods can complement both drug and non-drug therapy.
– For the application of acupuncture and injections of botulinum toxin in the treatment of chronic headache convincing data is not enough.