Acupuncture for Headaches & Migraines
One of the most common reasons people try acupuncture, is to help with headaches and migraines.
Headaches
A normal headache in India is often blamed on the food you’d eaten in the past few days or if you couldn’t sleep well. But the data says that over 63% women have headache issues. These issues are found more in the southern parts of India. Explanations probably lie in cultural, lifestyle and/or environmental factors, although the observed associations with female gender and rural dwelling are usual. This clearly tells us that one should not take acupuncture lightly.
According to the International Headache Society, the term ‘tension headache’ describes both infrequent and frequent, episodic headaches, as well as the chronic forms of the conditions.
People tend to cure headache with medicines that are available over the counter. Though some medical practitioners look at headache as a secondary symptom to another condition, some take it more seriously. In their opinion headache can be a primary condition, meaning that the headaches are a disorder that deserves attention and treatment.
Headaches can cause from mild to severe pain. More severe cases may see sufferers struggle with photophobia or phonophobia (sensitivity to light or noise), nausea and vomiting. Headaches may last from minutes to days.
Common causes include: stress, drinking too much alcohol, bad posture, eyesight problems, not eating regular meals, not drinking enough fluids (dehydration), women having their period or menopause and having a cold or flu.
Migraine
Migraine is a neurological disorder often described as intense pulsing or throbbing pain in one area of the head. Typically the headache is unilateral (affecting one half of the head) and pulsating in nature, lasting from 2 to 72 hours.
Migraines are believed to be due to a mixture of environmental and genetic factors . Migraines typically present with self-limited, recurrent severe headache associated with autonomic symptoms.
Symptoms of migraine can be divided into stages. There are five distinct stages of migraine, though not everyone goes through all the stages:
‘Prodromal’ (pre-headache) stage: Some people experience changes in mood, energy levels, behaviour and appetite, and sometimes aches and pains several hours or days before an attack.
Aura: Some people experience a sensation, or aura, just before their migraine starts. Symptoms of aura include flashes of light or blind spots, difficulty focusing, and seeing things as if they are looking through a broken mirror. This stage normally lasts around 15 minutes to an hour.
Headache stage: This is usually a pulsating or throbbing pain on one side of the head. It is associated with nausea or vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to bright light and loud sounds, with a strong desire to lie down in a darkened room. This stage lasts for four to 72 hours.
Resolution stage: Most attacks gradually fade away. Some people find the headache stops suddenly after they have been sick. Sleep often relieves the symptoms.
‘Postdromal’ or recovery phase: There may be a stage of exhaustion and weakness afterwards. Other symptoms can also occur during a migraine.
These include:
- Poor concentration
- Sweating
- Feeling very hot or very
- cold
- Abdominal pain
- A frequent need to urinate
How acupuncture can help
Acupuncture works really well with headaches and migraines. It’s an alternative treatment along with other medicines.
In some cases it is found that acupuncture has been more effective than other alternative treatments for a mixture of both tension and migraine-type headaches.
The idea behind acupuncture as a treatment for headaches lies in its ability to stimulate the nervous system, which results in a release of neurochemical messenger molecules that influence the body’s mechanisms to promote a positive physical and emotional well-being. Hui (2010) supports this thinking with research that proves stimulation of certain joints can actually affect the areas of the brain that reduce sensitivity to pain and stress.
Some of the many ways acupuncture can address – and even relieve – tension headaches include:
- Increasing endorphins
- Stimulating nerves in muscles and other tissues
- Reducing inflammation
- Increasing local microcirculation
If you suffer from headaches or migraines and would like to try an alternative treatment to the medication your GP prescribes, then you might like to consider acupuncture.
How does acupuncture work?
Specific diagnostic techniques, such as tongue and pulse diagnosis, abdominal and channel palpation, alongside talking, are used to identify patterns of physiological disruption.
Needles are then used in specific points that stimulate and rectify your mind and body’s normal physiological function.
We also seek to understand the ‘root’ [běn] 本 cause of the disruption, to ensure that it doesn’t simply return once treatment has ceased.
You can contact Acu. Kanchan Hande at Isha Holistic Healing Centre in Pune for more details on headaches and migraines.
Ref: https://www.nhp.gov.in/disease/neurological/migraine, www.nhs.uk, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4510104/
