Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Summer;8(3):196-204.
doi: 10.22088/cjim.8.3.196.

Acupuncture and botulinum toxin A injection in the treatment of chronic migraine: A randomized controlled study

Bahram Naderinabi  1 , Alia Saberi  2 , Masood Hashemi  3 , Mohammad Haghighi  1 , Gelareh Biazar  1 , Farid Abolhasan Gharehdaghi  4 , Abbas Sedighinejad  1 , Tahereh Chavoshi  1
Affiliations

Acupuncture and botulinum toxin A injection in the treatment of chronic migraine: A randomized controlled study

Bahram Naderinabi et al. Caspian J Intern Med. 2017 Summer.

Abstract

Background: Migraine is a common type of headache. Sometimes adequate pain relief is not achieved by conventional treatments. Acupuncture and botulinum toxin-A injection are known as non-pharmacological interventions for this purpose. The aim of this research was to compare the effect of acupuncture with botulinum toxin-A injection and pharmacological treatment in controlling chronic migraine.

Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on patients with chronic migraine in the North of Iran during 2014-2015. Eligible patients were randomly allocated to groups receiving acupuncture (A) or botulinum toxin A (B) and controls (C) by designed quadripartite blocks. All patients were evaluated at baseline, one, two and three months after treatment using visual analogue scale (VAS) score and other parameters. The analysis of data was performed in SPSS software Version 19.

Results: One hundred fifty patients (48 males and 102 females) completed this study. During the 3- month study, the pain severity significantly diminished in three groups (P=0.0001), with greater reduction in group A (P=0.0001). The number of days per month with migraine, absence from work and the need for medication significantly decreased in three groups at 3 times of evaluation (p<0.05) with fewer side effects in group A (P=0.021).

Conclusion: Acupuncture, botulinum toxin-A injection and pharmacological treatment have beneficial effects on chronic migraine; however, acupuncture showed more effectiveness and fewer complications.

Keywords: Acupuncture; Botulinum Toxin-A; Chronic; Migraine; Pain Management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no conflict of interest

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The trend of changes of mean VAS score in groups treated by acupuncture (A) (P=0.0001), botulinum toxin A (B) (P=0.0001) and valproate sodium (P=0.0001)
Figure 2
Figure 2
The trend of changes of mean numbers of days/month with migraine in groups treated with acupuncture (A) (P=0.0001), botulinum toxin A (B) (P=0.0001) and valproate sodium (C) (P=0.0001
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of the proportion of patients who made absence from work and social activities in groups treated with acupuncture (A), botulinum toxin A (B) and valproate sodium (C); T0:(P=0.443
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of the proportion of patients who need medications in groups treated with acupuncture (A), botulinum toxin A (B) and valproate sodium(C)
Figure 5
Figure 5
The trend of the changes of average number of times of needing medication per month in groups treated with acupuncture (A) (P=0.0001) and botulinum toxin A (B) (P=0.0001) and valproate sodium (C) (P=0.0001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Delfan B, Bahmani M, Hassanzadazar H, Saki K, Rafieian-Kopaei M. Identification of medicinal plants affecting on headaches and migraines in Lorestan Province, West of Iran. Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2014;7:S376–9. - PubMed
    1. Farinelli I, Coloprisco G, De Filippis S, Martelletti P. Long-term benefits of botulinum toxin type A (BOTOX) in chronic daily headache: a five-year long experience. J Headache Pain. 2006;7:407–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society (HIS) The International Classification of Headache Disorders: 3rd edition (beta version) Cephalalgia. 2013;33:629–808. - PubMed
    1. Saberi A, Nemati Sh, JaafariShakib R, Ehsan Kazemnejad, Maleki M. Association between allergic rhinitis and migraine. J Res Med Sci. 2012;17:508–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saberi A, Hatamian HR, Kazemnejad E, Gorbannejad N. Hyperlipidemia in migraine: Is it more frequent in migraineurs? Iran J Neurol 2011; 10: 46-50 - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources