Acupuncture for Headaches Dupont Circle
Are you experiencing a pounding, throbbing pain in your head on a regular basis? With 1 out of 6 people suffering from chronic headaches, it’s very likely you do.
Acupuncture can effectively relieve headaches, as well as treat their underlying causes. In fact, headaches are one of the conditions most commonly seen in acupuncture clinics today. It can offer powerful relief without the side effects that prescription and over-the-counter drugs can cause.
There are a number of types of headaches, from migraines, tension headaches, headaches occurring during the menstrual cycle, sinus headaches and stress-related headaches. Luckily for you, acupuncture treats them all.
How Does Acupuncture Treat Headaches and Migraines?
Many variables are looked at in order to properly diagnose and successfully treat different types of headaches. Each individual is treated differently depending on their unique symptoms.
Some of the factors that will determine what acupuncture points and other treatment techniques are used include: what triggers the headaches; the location, frequency and intensity of the headaches; the quality of the pain; the time of day that they occur; what helps the headaches and what makes them worse.
So, What Are the Types of Headaches?
When treating with acupuncture, headaches are often classified by their location. This is only a broad guideline which needs to be further refined and integrated into the treatment for each individual, but this shows meridians and patterns that affect each area of the head.
- Top of Head: Liver Meridian (Liver Blood Deficiency, Liver Yang Rising and muscle tension headache)
- Sides of Head: Gall-Bladder Meridian (Liver-Yang, Liver-Fire or Liver-Wind Rising)
- One Side Only: Gall-Bladder Meridian (Liver-Yang or Liver-Fire Rising) * Temples: Gall-Bladder Meridian (Liver-Yang, Liver-Fire or Liver-Wind Rising)
- Behind the Eyes: Liver Meridian (Liver Blood Deficiency, Liver Yang Rising)
- Forehead: Stomach Meridian (Stomach Deficiency or Stomach-Heat)
- Back of Head (Occipital): Bladder Meridian (Kidney Deficiency or Damp-Heat in the Bladder) or External Wind or muscle tension headache
- Whole Head: Kidney-Essence Deficiency or External Wind
Acupuncture can significantly relieve headaches and is an important component to managing recurring headaches and migraines. We can design a program of acupuncture in accordance with Traditional Chinese Medicine to help alleviate your headache problems for good. If you have any questions, please call for a consultation.