Research led by Fernanda Belle (University of Southern Santa Catarin)
Acupuncture to the ear may help to lessen pain from migraines and their impact on daily life, according to new research presented today (Friday) at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum 20261.
A randomized clinical trial of the treatment, called auriculotherapy, found that migraines were less painful immediately after the treatment and 30 days later, compared with the pain experienced before treatment. The impact of migraines on daily life also improved.
In addition, the researchers, led by Fernanda Belle, a physiotherapist in the Experimental Neuroscience laboratory at the University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Palhoça, Brazil, observed changes in oxygenation levels in the prefrontal cortex of the brain over the course of the study, as measured by hemoencephalography (HEG®), which is a non-invasive technology using near-infrared spectroscopy to measure blood flow in the brain, and is an indirect measure of neural activity.
However, although these were all statistically significant improvements when comparing the 68 women in the trial before and after the treatment, there was no statistically significant difference between the 34 women receiving auriculotherapy and the 34 who received the sham treatment.
Ms. Belle said: “Both groups improved over time, which may suggest that auricular stimulation, even when non-specific, can influence pain-related outcomes. However, at this stage, we cannot conclude that auriculotherapy was superior to the sham procedure.
“In the HEG® assessment, we identified changes in the average oxygenation levels of the prefrontal cortex over the course of the study, as well as differences between the groups, but the pattern of change over time was not clearly distinct between the two groups. However, the results are important because they show that it is possible to objectively monitor aspects of brain function in women with chronic migraine.
“Overall, these results are encouraging, especially because we observed improvement in clinical outcomes during follow-up, with a more consistent effect on pain in the group that received auriculotherapy. This suggests that auriculotherapy may be an interesting complementary strategy in the care of chronic migraine. We are reassessing these preliminary results in a larger group of women.”
Ms. Belle has personal experience of migraines as she and members of her family suffer from them. So she wanted to explore options for improving the care for other people facing the same problem.
“Migraine is a highly prevalent and disabling condition, and many patients do not achieve adequate symptom control with conventional treatments alone. It also affects women approximately three times more often than men, probably due in part to hormonal influences, and it represents an important cause of disability,” she said.
Source : https://studyfinds.com/could-acupuncture-ear-help-relieve-migraines