Migraine is a common neurovascular disorder disease often characterized by episodic headache attacks that develop the chronic disorder.1,2 According to statistics, migraine affects more than 10% of the world population.3 In the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study from 2016, migraine is the most common cause of disability in those aged 15–49 years, representing a significant increase from the previous year.4 One epidemiological survey of migraine showed that 63% of respondents had one to four episodes per month.5 As a result, migraine may have an adverse impact on the functional abilities of affected populations.6,7 Normally, management of migraine includes the prevention and treatment of migraine. However, migraines are very difficult to be cured successfully, and current therapeutic options have many undesirable side effects and may even intensify the headache pain in patients with chronic migraines.8
Acupuncture is the primary form of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that uses needles to puncture into acupoints. For a long time, acupuncture has been widely used as an essential and safest complementary or alternative treatment method against several diseases globally. A previous study indicated that chronic pain, especially migraine, is the most common clinical indication for acupuncture.9 Indeed, acupuncture as a non-pharmacological therapy has been widely used to prevent and treat migraine in Asia and Western countries. Several clinical researches have indicated that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment to prevent and treat migraine.10,11 Therefore, considering the high incidence, recurrent migraine attacks, acupuncture still has a great application prospect in this field.
