Dare to Be Headache Free

Headaches can be so stubborn… and oftentimes patients will just live with them assuming they’re an ordinary problem that people just live with.  While they can be very common for people, they don’t have to be.  Headaches are one of the conditions the World Health Organization recommends acupuncture for, because acupuncture has been proven through controlled trials to be an effective treatment.  So why oh why do people continue to live with them?!  Because they don’t know how phenomenal acupuncture is at rebalancing the body.  The key for headaches, as with everything in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is a proper diagnosis.  Your acupuncturist figures out the fine details by asking questions about your headache, like why is the quality of pain? Dull, sharp, stabbing, throbbing…  where is the pain located? On the front, sides, back or top of your head.  Is the pain constant? Does it come and go? Is it related to your menstrual cycle?  It is also important for us to understand what makes the pain better or worse.  Hot, cold, pressure, a dark room, etc.  This doesn’t just apply to headaches.  This actually is applicable for all types of pain in the body.  These pieces of information guide your acupuncturist to properly diagnose your individual headache.

There can be many causes of headaches from an acupuncture standpoint.  From a very broad and general perspective, headaches would be characterized as wind in the body.  However, what is the cause of the wind?  That can be a more complicated picture.  Blood deficiency type headaches present in the front of the head as a dull ache.  Oftentimes these are most seen with fluctuations in hormones surrounding the menstrual cycle or during pregnancy, especially the first trimester.  A headache that wraps like a band around the head from the front to the back and feels like a heavy weight is due to dampness or phlegm accumulation caused by poor diet, excessive worry and overthinking.  Headaches that come with a lot of heat-- physical or emotional, are due to Liver heat and are caused by eating hot, spicy and/or greasy foods combined with emotional stress.  In an even more intense picture, it would be called Liver Yang Rising with even stronger heat signs and more emotional intensity.  Headaches that happen on the side of the head and only one side are effectively treated with acupuncture because there is a special channel that loves to get problems on one side of the body, called the shao yang channel.  Tension headaches and headaches associated with fighting off a cold often start in the back of the head and neck.  

Using a combination of acupuncture points and Chinese herbs, we can pull the body back into balance by addressing the pathogen correctly by draining what’s in excess or nourishing what is deficient.  The philosophy is simple, but getting relief from headaches is possible!  We look forward to helping you get your body in balance and getting you headache free!!