Migraine attacks can come on fast and furiously. For many they can be unrelenting and debilitating for days at a time. While there are various medications that can be used to treat the pain and to try to reduce migraine frequency, they can often cause unpleasant side effects. For this reason, some people are turning to alternative treatments, like acupuncture.

While using needles to help manage stress may seem counter-intuitive to some, I generally find that people walk away from their acupuncture treatment feeling more relaxed and better able to cope with their day-to-day stresses.

But what is acupuncture actually doing? Can acupuncture affect the body’s basic biological systems that keep stress under control?