Acupuncture for Migraines: An Edmonton Guide

Migraines are not just severe headaches. An attack can bring intense pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and nausea, and can keep a person from work, family, and daily life for hours or days. For many people, the anxiety of waiting for the next episode is a burden of its own. Global Burden of Disease analyses estimate that migraine affects about 1.16 billion people worldwide, roughly 14%, or about one in seven of us (Cephalalgia, 2024).

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a practice from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with a history spanning thousands of years. During treatment, a Registered Acupuncturist inserts very fine, sterile needles into specific points on the body. In the TCM framework, these points sit along meridians, the pathways through which Qi (pronounced “chee”), or vital energy, is understood to flow; treatment aims to restore balance to that flow. Acupuncture is used for a wide range of concerns, and headache and migraine care is one of its most common applications.

How is acupuncture thought to help migraines?

There are two complementary ways to describe what acupuncture does.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective. In TCM, migraines are understood as a sign of imbalance or blockage in the body’s energy flow. An acupuncturist selects points intended to restore that balance, with the goal of addressing contributing factors rather than only masking symptoms.

A biomedical perspective. From a Western standpoint, acupuncture is believed to stimulate nerves, which send signals to and from the spinal cord and brain. This stimulation is thought to influence blood flow and support the release of neurotransmitters, the body’s chemical messengers involved in how pain is processed. One way practitioners describe it: acupuncture works like training for the nervous system, using repeated stimulation to encourage the body’s regulatory systems to adapt more smoothly to stress and change.

What has the research examined?

Acupuncture for migraine has been studied in randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews. Published research that has examined this question includes:

• Linde, K., Allais, G., Brinkhaus, B., et al. (2016). Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CD001218. This Cochrane review (22 trials, 4,985 participants) rated the overall evidence as moderate quality. It found that acupuncture reduced migraine frequency compared with no acupuncture, showed a small but statistically significant benefit over sham acupuncture, and concluded that acupuncture “may be at least similarly effective as treatment with prophylactic drugs,” with fewer reported side effects. It also stated that “a course of acupuncture consisting of at least six treatment sessions can be a valuable option.”
• Zhao, L., Chen, J., Li, Y., et al. (2017). The long-term effect of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 177(4). A 24-week randomized trial (249 participants with migraine without aura) in which true acupuncture reduced attack frequency compared with sham acupuncture and a waiting-list control, with benefits persisting through follow-up.
• Yang, Y., Que, Q., Ye, X., & Zheng, G. (2016). Verum versus sham manual acupuncture for migraine: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Acupuncture in Medicine, 34(2). A systematic review (10 trials, 997 participants) reporting higher response rates for true versus sham acupuncture, but no significant differences on several other outcomes such as pain intensity, frequency, and duration.
• Diener, H. C., Kronfeld, K., Boewing, G., et al. (2006). Efficacy of acupuncture for the prophylaxis of migraine: a multicentre randomised controlled clinical trial. The Lancet Neurology, 5(4). A large multicentre randomized trial (960 randomized) that found no significant differences between true acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and standard preventive drug therapy: participants in all three groups improved.
• Yang, C., Wu, M., Luo, Q., et al. (2024). Acupuncture for migraine: a systematic review and meta-regression of randomized controlled trials. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 86:103076. A dose-response analysis (32 trials, 1,562 participants) suggesting benefits build with treatment up to around 16 sessions, at about three sessions per week over 1.5 to 2 months, with diminishing additional benefit beyond that. The authors note the reporting quality of the underlying trials remains suboptimal.
• Liu, A. R., Zhu, Q., Li, J., et al. (2025). Efficacy of acupuncture and pharmacotherapy for migraine prophylaxis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Pain Research, 18:2521-2540. A meta-analysis (19 trials, 2,296 patients, most conducted in China) reporting that acupuncture was associated with greater reductions in attack frequency, intensity, migraine days, and duration than the conventional preventive medications used in those trials, with fewer reported adverse events. The authors graded the certainty of their own evidence as moderate to low and concluded further high-quality trials are needed.
• Lu, T., Yang, Y., Li, J., et al. (2025). Acupuncture improves migraine and quality of life in patients with migraine: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Systematic Reviews, 14:220. A meta-analysis (23 trials, 2,295 patients) in which acupuncture was associated with fewer migraine days and attacks and shorter attacks compared with sham acupuncture, and with improved migraine-specific quality-of-life scores; the authors note potential bias and call for further rigorous trials.

What the clinical guidelines say

Clinical guidelines take different positions. The UK’s NICE guideline (CG150) recommends considering “a course of up to 10 sessions of acupuncture over 5 to 8 weeks” when certain preventive medications are unsuitable or have not worked.

Taken together: the strongest evidence supports acupuncture as a reasonable preventive option; findings on how it compares with medication are mixed across studies, and the newer reviews that favour acupuncture grade their own evidence as moderate-to-low certainty. Individual results vary, and acupuncture is not a substitute for medical assessment of headaches. If your headaches are new, changing, or severe, speak with your physician or nurse practitioner.

An “and”, not an “or”: how Dr. Lalonde sees acupuncture alongside conventional care

One theme Dr. Tammy Lalonde returns to with migraine patients is that Traditional Chinese Medicine and biomedical care are not competing options. She is wary whenever one discipline discounts the other, because in her view each is powerful in its own right, and the two are frequently more useful together than apart.

The comparison she reaches for comes from conventional pain management. Physicians will often have a patient use acetaminophen and ibuprofen together, not because either one is weak, but because two different mechanisms working at the same time can accomplish more than either does alone.

Migraine care has its own version of the same reasoning. For an acute attack, the NICE guideline recommends combination therapy: an oral triptan, the migraine-specific drug family that includes sumatriptan and rizatriptan, paired with either an anti-inflammatory or acetaminophen, rather than choosing between them. Two different mechanisms, used together on purpose.

That is how Dr. Lalonde thinks about acupuncture in relation to conventional migraine care: an adjunct that works alongside what a patient is already doing, rather than a replacement for it. Decisions about medication belong with your physician, nurse practitioner, or pharmacist.

It is also what stands out to her most in the research above. Read as a whole, that literature is not a case for abandoning anything. It is a case for acupuncture as a reasonably well-studied addition to migraine care, used alongside the rest of a patient’s plan.

Common migraine triggers

The exact causes of migraine are not fully understood; genetic and environmental factors are both known to play a role. Commonly reported triggers include diet, alcohol, or medications; stress and changes in environment; sensory stimuli such as bright light; and disrupted sleep patterns. Part of an acupuncturist’s assessment involves reviewing your history and possible triggers, which also supports the other pillars of migraine self-management.

Hormonal changes deserve particular mention. Many people find their migraines cluster around a particular point in the menstrual cycle, or that the pattern changes during perimenopause. If your migraines track with your cycle, that is worth raising at your assessment, because it may mean hormone health is part of the picture rather than a separate issue. Our Restore+ Hormone Health Program is the part of the clinic that handles hormone assessment and treatment, and your Registered Acupuncturist can help you decide whether that is a conversation worth having.

What to expect at your appointment

How many sessions are needed, and what does a course look like?

Clinical trials have typically evaluated courses of at least six sessions, and the UK’s NICE guideline describes courses of up to 10 sessions over five to eight weeks. More recent dose-response research (Yang et al., 2024) suggests benefits may continue to build up to around 16 sessions over roughly two months, with diminishing additional benefit beyond that.

In her own practice, Dr. Lalonde usually books migraine patients twice weekly for the first two to three weeks, then weekly for a further five to six weeks, before stepping down to a less frequent maintenance schedule.

She is also direct with patients about what that period tends to look like. The goal in the first week or two is usually not to eliminate a migraine but to bring it down to something manageable, often in the range of a fifty percent reduction, which is also the threshold most migraine research uses to define a meaningful response. From there, the aim across the following weeks is to reduce intensity and frequency further. How much changes, and how quickly, varies from person to person, and your acupuncturist will reassess as you go.

The maintenance phase matters as much as the intensive one. The pattern Dr. Lalonde works to avoid is a patient improving, stopping care altogether, returning to severe pain, and getting caught in a cycle of starting over. Tapering to a lower frequency is intended to help the gains hold.

Between acupuncture appointments

Your acupuncturist will reassess your progress as your course of care continues. You may also find it useful to read about how to know if acupuncture is working.

Acupuncture alongside other care

Migraine care often benefits from more than one angle, and acupuncture at Red Leaf Wellness can be coordinated with other services within their own scopes of practice:

• Our pain management program coordinates acupuncture with other therapies for persistent pain.
• Functional medicine looks at underlying contributors to chronic symptoms.
• Naturopathic medicine, provided by our Naturopathic Doctors, offers complementary assessment and care.
• Massage therapy, provided by our Registered Massage Therapists, may help with muscle tension that accompanies headaches.

What does acupuncture care cost?

Your initial appointment includes a comprehensive health-history intake followed by treatment. Your Registered Acupuncturist may also discuss supplement or herbal recommendations where appropriate. Initial assessments and follow-up visits have separate fees. Please confirm current pricing on our Service Fees page.

Is acupuncture covered by Alberta Health Care or insurance?

Acupuncture is not covered by Alberta Health Care. Many extended health plans do cover it, and as a complimentary service we submit insurance claims on your behalf where your provider allows it. Coverage varies by policy, provider type, and plan eligibility, and patients remain responsible for any amount an insurer does not cover. Full details are on our Service Fees page; we recommend confirming your coverage with your insurer before your first visit.

Frequently asked questions

This article provides general information and is not a substitute for an individual assessment. Acupuncture at Red Leaf Wellness is provided by Registered Acupuncturists. Decisions about prescribed migraine treatment remain with your medical care team.