Acupuncture reduces migraines better than leading drugs and with fewer side effects
In a very recent review published in June 2016, true acupuncture was shown to reduce migraine episodes significantly over sham acupuncture (less accurate and placebo acupuncture) in just under 5000 participants. The results in the acupuncture group were also better than the leading migraine preventative drugs but with far fewer side effects, and thus greater tolerability.
"Our findings about the number of days with migraine per month can be summarized as follows. If people have six days with migraine per month on average before starting treatment, this would be reduced to five days in people receiving only usual care, to four days in those receiving fake acupuncture or a prophylactic drug, and to three and a half days in those receiving true acupuncture."
This systematic review and meta-analysis of the research was conducted by the Cochrane database, which is considered the highest level of peer reviewed evidence. The authors concluded that acupuncture can be considered a treatment for migraine prevention in those who wish to undertake this treatment option.
http://www.cochrane.org/CD001218/SYMPT_acupuncture-preventing-migraine-attacks