Background: Headache attacks severely impaired life quality and increase economic burden of migraineurs. Electroacupuncture (EA) has been used world-widely to treat several pain-related diseases including migraine. However, whether EA with low- or high-frequency exerts distinct analgesic effect remains unknown and need to further study.
Methods/Design: This study is a randomized, prospective randomized trial with three parallel arms. A total of 129 migraine outpatients will be randomly allocated to 2Hz EA group, 100Hz EA group and control group. Twelve treatment sessions will be performed over a four-week period. The primary outcome will be measured by frequency of migraine attacks at baseline, four-week of treatment and consecutive four-week follow-up. Secondary outcome measures will be number of days with migraine, frequency of taking ibuprofen, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Migraine Specific Quality of Life questionnaire (MSQ), safety and compliance evaluation.
Discussion: This trial is expected to comparative effect of electroacupuncture with different frequency on headache attacks in migraineur.
Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-1800017259.Registered on 20 July 2018.Registered on 20 July 2018.