Traditional Chinese Acupuncture May Help Your Headaches

Taking pills for their headaches are what most people resort to or are prescribed by their doctor when afflicted with chronic pain. But there is an increasing number of people seeking alternative cures. One of these alternative treatments hails from a traditional Chinese method – Acupuncture. It has shown to be excellent in combating headaches, based from the results of clinical trials.

Why conventional medicines do not work on some

Conventional medications usually work for treatment of migraine headaches, with others are effective in helping cluster and temple headaches. However, it has been shown that they are not effective in treating a wide range of headaches. Worse, they can cause a simple migraine to turn into something called Chronic Daily Headache (CDH), which presents an even bigger problem because it’s much more difficult to treat. CDH can occur 10 to 15 times or more in a month. Further evidence points to CDH cases increasing in numbers, prompting both victims and doctors to seek other forms of treatment. Acupuncture is one of them.

Acupuncture Treatment

For more than five thousand years, the Chinese has refined the art of acupuncture. It has been used as an alternative therapy for all sorts of ailments from sprains and fractures to weight loss and skin problems. 

Acupuncture involves the practice of inserting extremely fine needles at certain points known as ‘Qi’ (pronounced as ‘Chi’) points in the body. Practicioners of Eastern medicine believe that the body has this Qi or energy force which can at times, become unbalanced. Placing needles in precise locations on the body where they believe energy lines are near the skin’s surface can balance the Qi, thus providing healing to the patient. The needles are left in place or by use of electrical impluses to stimulate the ‘Qi’. 

While acupuncture has seen use in healing for a  very long time, its effectiveness in the treating of headaches has only recently, been studied with any great depth.

Studies Shows That Acupuncture Works

In a study from the Britain, which was published by the prestigious British Medical Journal it was shown headache sufferers took fewer sick days after they underwent acupuncture treatments for a period of 2 to 3 months. In the US, a study conducted  by the University of North Carolina provided results which showed positive improvements for CDH sufferers after acupuncture treatment.

Many GPs around the world have now begun to offer acupuncture as an alternative headache treatment. Compared to pills using acupuncture has no harmful side effects.

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