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According to the World Health Organization, migraine and headache disorders affect about 40% of people worldwide. This is a staggering statistic, and as anyone who has ever suffered from a chronic migraine can tell you, it can be a debilitating condition. Thankfully, with acupuncture there are numerous ways to treat them when they do occur, and symptoms can be mitigated with consistent treatment - sometimes eliminated entirely!
When headache/migraine patients come into my clinic, the first questions I ask are pain location (frontal, temporal, occipital vertex, or behind the eyes), intensity, frequency, and duration. I also like to know if there are alleviating or triggering factors, or warning signs like a visual aura before a migraine begins to take hold. Other qualities, like sharp and stabbing or dull and achy pain can help guide the direction of the treatments and points used.
In order to provide continued symptom relief, I recommend patients get weekly treatments early on to ensure the channels where Qi and Blood are causing stagnation remain clear and open, and to monitor symptom changes. While the relieving of one headache or migraine is an incredible thing to offer those who suffer from them, the true magic of the medicine of acupuncture lies in fact that it can open up those channels such that future headaches are prevented before they can manifest. Once channels have been cleared and symptoms are less frequent or intense, treatments can be spaced further apart.
Areas of Concern
A quick glance at acupuncture channels of the head and face will show you that there are numerous organ systems associated with the aforementioned locations where pain seems to center around. The frontal region is governed mostly by the Large Intestine and Stomach channels, the temporal by the Gallbladder and Triple Heater channels, and the occipital is controlled by the Bladder channel. The final two areas - vertex and behind the eyes - are controlled by the Liver channel via an internal pathway. There is a bit of nuance here I'm skipping for simplicity's sake, but this covers the vast majority of what I have found to be effective in the clinic setting.
How We Treat
Once we have specified the areas of concern where the pain is focused, opening and moving points are needled further downstream along those same pathways. For example, in the case of frontal headaches we might utilize points like LI 4 on the hand and ST 36 on the leg - both are points that can be massaged through acupressure by the patient on their own to help alleviate symptoms outside of the clinic. In the case of vertex headaches and pain behind the eyes, LV 3 on top of the foot is a very commonly used point and can be massaged for symptomatic relief as well. By stimulating these points, either with needles or acupressure, we are activating the channel distal to where the stagnation is in the body, thus helping to remove it from the area where it is causing pain. While massaging these points can be helpful for many, I generally recommend coming in for a full treatment, as the needles allow for stimulation of the points at a deeper level, which can provide longer lasting relief.
If you or someone you know suffers from migraines or headaches and has not yet given acupuncture a try, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have.
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