Do you suffer from headaches? You aren’t alone; over 50 million people experience some form of severe headache at some point in their lives. Whether it’s minor head pain or debilitating migraines, headaches rob you of valuable time and leave you exhausted and searching for relief. We’ll be exploring why so many headache sufferers are choosing acupuncture for pain relief.
Diagnosing Causes Of Headaches
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory there are many possible factors that can play a key role in the root causes of headaches. Some of these things may be emotional health, stress, excessive work, exercise, improper diet, physical trauma, body constitution and hormones. Headaches can also be diagnosed by specific symptoms, times of occurrence, location and type of pain.
Types Of Headaches
There are various types of headaches, some of which include:
• Tension: Tension headaches are the most common type of headache and they manifest as a dull, aching pain that creates a sensation of tightness across the forehead or the sides and back of the head.
• Migraine: A migraine usually starts as a dull ache and later can become a constant, throbbing pain at the temples as well as the frontal and occipital lobes. Migraine pain is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and noise.
• Cluster: Cluster headaches often occur suddenly and without warning and are described as sharp, penetrating and stabbing. This type of headache is typically located around one eye, but can also radiate to other areas of the face. The pain may be accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light and noise.
• Sinus: Sinus headaches are headaches that may accompany sinusitis, a condition in which the membranes lining the sinuses become swollen and inflamed. The pain is typically throbbing and is accompanied by a feeling of painful pressure in the eyes, cheeks and forehead.
• Hormone: Hormone headaches occur when fluctuating hormones affect headache-related chemicals in the brain. These headaches generally have migraine-like symptoms.
• Rebound: Rebound headaches are headaches caused by the overuse of headache medicines and are persistent and occur every day.
Pharmaceuticals Only Offer Temporary Relief For Headaches
Often times when people have a headache they reach for pain killers and other pharmaceutical drugs. These drugs may work temporarily and can get you pain relief quickly, but they don’t address the root causes of the headaches and when used over long periods of time they can cause unwanted side effects, even cause headaches themselves!
How Acupuncture Can Help
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine offers a safe, natural and effective way to relieve headache pain, without the harmful side effects of medication. These healing modalities use unique, specific diagnostic tools such as Chinese pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis that can tell the acupuncturist the root cause of your headaches.
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine does this by taking a holistic, or whole-body, approach to healing. Licensed acupuncturist Steven Sonmore will take a detailed health history and perform an exam to determine how and why your body’s vital energy (or Qi, pronounced chee)) is out of balance and identify what is causing your headache. To determine the most effective care, Steven will focus on illuminating the root causes of the headache and treat that, so the pain diminishes.
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine is extremely effective in naturally reducing the frequency and severity of all types of headaches. By working with licensed acupuncturist Steven Sonmore and following his recommended lifestyle suggestions, you will be on your way to a healthier, happier, headache-free life. Call our Edina acupuncture clinic today to schedule your appointment for headache pain relief. Call 952-831-8080. Or go to our contact page now.
