Supplementary treatment of migraines

Abstract Medications are the current standard treatment of migraine headache, but a number of physical therapies show promising results, including acupuncture, occipital nerve stimulation, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Occipital nerve stimulation may control headache in 70–75% of cases, but the procedure requires subcutaneous electrodes. TMS is noninvasive and is well tolerated, with success rates of 69–87%. Development of portable small TMS devices should shorten the time to treatment and improve efficacy. Migraine can be controlled at the stage of aura. Drug Dev Res 68:428–431, 2007. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.