Acupuncture involves insertion and manipulation of fine needles at various, prescribed body- pressure points. Results for Migraineurs are somewhat mixed with acupuncture. But for may of us, Acupuncture offers relief and a better quality of life which may be worth exploring.
According to the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture there are many areas of Western medicine, rigorously controlled research and carefully documented experience that allow fairly definitive answers to questions of diagnosis and treatment of any given malady.
Although the quality of research in acupuncture is now better meeting the requirements of Western medicine, we still can rarely answer questions based on a Western scientific-evidence-based model. The reasons for which lie in the nature of the two systems themselves. Allah doesn't always reveal to us by which means he heals us, but only gives answers to the questions that we pose through experimentations. In November of 1997 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a conference on acupuncture to determine what answers we do have from a rigorous scientific standpoint.
Read or download (PDF, 160K) the Consensus Statement on Acupuncture
The distinct methods used by oriental medicine have long posed problems of understanding and accreditation for Western practitioners seeking to verify the efficacy of acupuncture. Western allopathic medicine treats diagnoses, and diagnoses are often established by fairly objective impersonal standards. The conventional Western medical model, by treating specific and "objective" diagnoses, can easily design studies which permit statistical inferences about the benefits of an intervention.
For more information I recommend visiting the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture website at http://www.medicalacupuncture.org.
I also found an article about a study in which a mock acupuncture treatment was performed on a group of people, while another group was given actual treatment through acupuncture and yet a third group was not given any at all. You'd be surprised of the resutls. I'll put that article up here insha Allah.
Have you tried Acupuncture for your Migraines? Let me know if it helped.
