Acupuncture, either alone or combined with physiotherapy exercises, can elicit positive effects on depression, anxiety, quality of life and symptom intensity in patients with tension-type headache.
German investigators randomised 96 adults with frequent episodic or chronic tension-type headache to one of four treatment groups. The treatment groups received six weeks of either acupuncture or physiotherapy, both as monotherapies or in combination, or usual care. Acupuncture was conducted according to Chinese medicine principles and current scientific literature. The semi-standardised protocol included 10 to 16 acupoints to address aspects of individual TCM diagnosis, as well as standardised points. In addition to seven standardised acupoints, three to five individual points and one to four local pain points were selected. Both acupuncture, and the combination of acupuncture and physiotherapy, significantly reduced depression scores to a greater extent than either physiotherapy or usual care alone. Similar results were found for anxiety scores and physical functioning, and the benefits of acupuncture persisted up to six-month follow-up.