Headaches and Natural Relief With Acupuncture
Frequent headaches, tension, or migraines can disrupt your life, leaving you reaching for relief. While medications can provide temporary relief, they don’t always address the root cause and may have side effects if used long term.
That’s where acupuncture for headache relief and holistic health care may play a role. Research suggests that regular acupuncture might help reduce how often headaches happen and how intense they feel, especially when compared with no treatment or sham procedures (placebo) over time (Lu et al., 2025)
What the Research Shows
Scientific studies have looked at acupuncture’s effects on both tension headaches and migraines:
Migraine relief and quality of life
A recent systematic review found that acupuncture can reduce migraine duration, the number of migraine days, and improve quality of life compared to sham or usual care. In this analysis of over 20 randomized trials (more than 2,200 patients), acupuncture was associated with fewer days with migraine and better emotional well-being scores after treatment (Lu et al., 2025).
Reductions compared to medication
In a meta-analysis of 19 randomized controlled trials, acupuncture showed larger reductions in migraine attack frequency, pain intensity, the number of migraine days, and migraine duration compared with conventional oral medications. Patients receiving acupuncture were about twice as likely to achieve at least a 50% reduction in migraine days compared to those on medication, with fewer adverse events reported (Liu et al., 2015).
Explore Your Options
If headaches or migraines are affecting your daily life, acupuncture may be a safe, natural way to find relief. Schedule a consultation at Ageless Acupuncture for your Headaches and Migraines to see if it’s right for you.
References:
- Liu, A. R., Zhu, Q., Li, J., Cao, Y., Pei, T., & Shi, L. (2025). Efficacy of Acupuncture and Pharmacotherapy for Migraine Prophylaxis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of pain research, 18, 2521–2540. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S519846
- Lu, T., Yang, Y., Li, J., Lu, L., & Liu, J. (2025b). Acupuncture improves migraine and quality of life in patients with migraine: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Systematic Reviews, 14(1), 220. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-025-02977-y
