Besides pain, the most common complaint heard by healthcare providers is headaches. Headaches usually cause distress, bad moods and low productivity. Headaches are classified as migraine, cluster, and tension headaches. A very old medical and natural form of treatment used by the Chinese for thousands of years for treatment of many kinds of disorders including headaches is acupuncture Jacksonville.
Chinese medicine and Western medicine have distinct fundamental views of headaches. Western medicine believes that a headache is a symptom of an underlying disease. Examples of these types of diseases are trigeminal neuralgia, sinus, eye problems and head injuries among many others. The main mode of treatment for headaches in Western society depends on the type of headache, but usually includes pain relievers like over-the-counter analgesics, NSAIDs, opiates or sleeping pills, which really do not equal the safety, quality and potency of acupuncture treatment. Different diagnostic methods such as x-rays and MRIs can diagnose the type of headache properly.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that besides being subjective symptoms headaches are also diseases themselves. TCM also believes that different types of headaches also have different pathologies. A headache may be caused by the imbalance of energy of the liver, spleen and kidney which can result in the undernourishment of the brain. For the acupuncturist the symptoms themselves determine the diagnosis of the disease. Besides the symptoms, physical examination of the tongue and pulse is done to know the type of headache the patient is suffering from. The diagnosis also determines the treatment to be used and/or may be complemented with other modalities such as herbs or other TCM modalities. Usually, herbal medicine is also used simultaneously with acupuncture treatment to maximize the healing process.
Acupuncture enables the body to heal itself in a most efficient way. The energy it releases and the improved blood flow it causes nourishes the body and revitalizes the organs and body parts that used to be undernourished. The flow of blood into the injured area heals the injuries in those areas and relieves pain in the process. Acupuncture relaxes the muscles and causes the stimulation and release of beneficial chemicals to help the mind feel calm and relaxed.
It is vitally important that the acupuncturist come up with an accurate diagnosis. A wrong diagnosis will mean treatment of sites that are not in disharmony and might cause an excess of energy in that part of the body, which is likewise detrimental to the person’s health. Excess energy also causes imbalance to the body and can make the person ill in the same manner as deficient energy can cause sickness in the affected area. Depending on the severity of the headache, treatment may last for days, weeks or even months.