Acupuncture may be an effective treatment for migraine without aura, a type of migraine that occurs without warning signs like flickering lights. A new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open showed that real acupuncture (inserting needles into specific points to trigger a healing response) significantly reduced the number of days patients suffered from migraines each month compared to sham acupuncture. This is a controlled version of the treatment designed to minimize therapeutic effects. The research also identified brain connectivity patterns that can predict how well a patient will respond to treatment.
Migraine without aura is the most common type of migraine, a neurological disorder that can cause severe, throbbing pain and affect quality of life. Standard treatments, including pain-relieving drugs and preventive medications, are not tolerated by all patients.
Clinical trial
Acupuncture is an increasingly popular complementary therapy that is already known to be safe and effective in some people. But doctors do not know why some patients might benefit more from it than others.
In this new study, scientists in China conducted a randomized clinical trial between 2021 and 2023 involving 120 participants with migraine without aura.
Half of the patients received real acupuncture while the other half received sham acupuncture. All volunteers had 12 sessions over the course of four weeks. Before treatment began, every patient had a functional MRI scan, which maps how different parts of the brain communicate with each other.
The group that received the genuine acupuncture treatment experienced a significant drop in the number of migraine days they suffered per month. These participants also reported a decrease in pain intensity and used fewer medications to manage their attacks. Consequently, their quality of life improved, and they were able to return to their daily activities with much less interference from their headaches.
Analysis of the fMRI scans using connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM), an AI tool that maps the complex connections through the brain, revealed two specific patterns that predicted success.
Pain relief
People with weaker communication between the brain’s self-reflection centers and its coordination centers saw the most pain relief. Those with stronger links between the coordination centers and the movement centers saw the biggest improvement in daily physical activities.
These insights could bring us closer to personalized treatments for people with migraine without aura, as the researchers note in their paper: “The findings highlight changes in brain functional connectivity during acupuncture, showing the brain connectome’s potential for personalized therapy.”