Tatiana Virgínia Fidélis Cordeiro
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Aline Silva Ziehe
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Tamie Mota Arbex
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Barbara Cunha Vasconcellos
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Lara Cruz de Senna Fernandes
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Background: Migraine is one of the most disabling conditions worldwide, and acupuncture can be used as prophylaxis. This practice is indicated to relieve tension, stress, induce analgesia, and has been gaining space due to its A level evidence. Objectives: Investigate the impact of acupuncture on the management of migraine disorders. Design and Settings: literature review. Methods: After searching the MEDLINE database for “migraine disorders OR headache”, “acupuncture” and “integrative medicine OR alternative medicine”, 271 articles were found and 6 used. Only those with full text available and published between 2011-2021 were included. Those that addressed a specific type of migraine were excluded. Results: Acupuncture was analyzed in 4 studies as prophylaxis for migraine, in which there was a general reduction in symptoms and 50% reduction in frequency of episodes (p <0.05), with its effects comparable to drugs such as Depakene, Topamax, Metoprolol and Flunarizine. A meta-analysis involving 39 clinical trials showed that the acupuncture group obtained better results than the control group (p <0.001), these results were sustained when analyzing pain after randomization, in agreement with another study that demonstrated pain reduction in the group that used simulated acupuncture (p=0.002). It should be noted that, although some patients report adverse effects, it’s safe and as effective than drugs used in the treatment of migraine. Conclusions: Acupuncture is a good prophylactic method for migraine. It reduces pain episodes and has less adverse effects when compared to conventional methods. However, further studies on this therapy are needed.