The symptoms of a headache (more severe-Migraine) are almost the same for most of us, even to that point where you begin to think the only remedy would be to remove your entire brain…Because without your brain, it’s impossible to be in that unbearable amount of pain right?
In an article in the magazine OPRAH, Mehmet Oz, MD, host of The Dr. Oz Show, analyzes the different treatments for frequent headaches, one of these remedies being that of Acupuncture. A primary goal for an acupuncturist is to wean the patient off prescription and over-the-counter painkillers that can trigger rebound headaches (people who regularly take these medications can suffer a headache as soon as the pills wear off), says Daniel Hsu, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine and founder of New York AcuHealth, an acupuncture clinic. Acupuncture can help patients relax as well as transition off medications; what’s more, a recent review of research found that the technique could halve the number of days a month a person experiences head pain.
“In Germany, acupuncture is frequently used for headache,” he said. “Most private health insurances, in fact, reimburse for acupuncture, although they cover only about 10 percent of the population.” The practice has also gained popularity in the United States. A 2002 National Health Interview Survey of complementary and alternative medicine use found that about 8.2 million U.S. adults had ever used acupuncture in their lives, and an estimated 2.1 million had used acupuncture the previous year.
A typical acupuncture treatment involves the insertion of fine needles into acupuncture points on the body followed by gentle manipulation of the needles. This instantly increases blood flow in the tissues through a mechanism know as the “axon reflex”, which dilates the small vessels around the needle area. An increase in circulation where blood flow is poor is called removal of “stagnation” in Asian medicine and is generally considered a very good response for most chronic conditions and for migraine prevention.