Acupuncturists applied manual acupuncture at 10 obligatory acupoints, included bilateral L14, LR3, EX-HN5, GB20, and GB8. Additional acupoints were selected on the basis of meridian diagnosis and the patient’s symptoms: bilateral ST8 for Yangming meridian headache, BL10 for Taiyang meridian headache, and DU20 for Jueying meridian headache. Streitberger acupuncture needles (0.30 mm in diameter and 30 mm in length) were used. After sterilisation, the sharp needles were inserted into the deep tissue layers of acupoints. Acupuncturists then tried to elicit acupuncture de-qi sensation by the manual manipulation of needles. Over a 30 minute period, manual manipulation for each acupoint lasted 10 seconds and was repeated four times with intervals of 10 minutes.