Acupuncture for Treating Headaches

Headache sufferers face a potentially debilitating problem if they do not find some way to treat their headaches. They impact on every part of their lives. Headaches can disrupt their employment, schooling and social activities. Those people who suffer from chronic headaches, migraines or cluster headaches continue to search for an answer that is more than taking another medication or lying in a dark room waiting for it to go away.

Some of the medication that works have side effects and the pain that one endures waiting in the darkened room for sleep to come is more than some can tolerate. That is why headache sufferers continue to search for a treatment knowing that it can change their lives. Its the same reason so many have turned to acupuncture hoping it is the answer.

The use of acupuncture for headache treatment is not new. It has been going on for hundreds of years. There are even acupuncturists who prefer to limit their practices solely to headache sufferers. This problem is one that acupuncture is known to help because it deals with more than just the pain. It works on the causes too.

In the last thirty years the use of acupuncture for headache care has been studied worldwide. The conclusions have shown the success of this treatment. Studies conducted over the last seven years prove continuously that there is improvement for the person who uses acupuncture as a headache treatment. They even show improvement for those suffering with cluster headaches, reported to be the worst, most painful of all headaches.

Statistics show that acupuncture does not necessarily stop headaches completely but it definitely reduces the average per month and the overall degree of headache pain. One study group found that after a three month course of acupuncture treatments the headache frequency went from having headaches nearly nine days out of a month to less than five.

Those with migraines went from an average of seven headache days to only four monthly. Tension headaches were reduced from ten times monthly to half that. These positive results continued for ninety days after treatments stopped. During the treatment period only fifty percent of the patients required medication during their headaches. The control group required it among seventy percent of their people.

Another group in a recent study was given scalp acupuncture to deal with their headache pain. Headaches do not necessarily require pain relief that is only through the needles being put in the scalp. Depending on the cause of the headaches needles may be inserted on the arms and legs as well. Of those who used scalp acupuncture ninety eight percent not only had significant relief, no headaches or greatly diminished ones, but this relief lasted over six months after the treatments ended.

This continuing evidence of acupuncture success with headache pain should be a message to all headache sufferers who are tired of the intense pain, the disruption to their days and want to try a treatment that will be safe.