Acupuncture & Migraines

Carmel Thomason
12/ 3/2007
EACH week our team of health experts tackle your most pressing problems. We’ve got an acupuncturist, nurse, osteopath and dentist all on hand. This week they tackle migraines, tennis elbow and itchy skin.

THE ACUPUNCTURIST

Da Peng Zhang is a doctor of Chinese medicine based at Dr & Herbs in Manchester’s Arndale Centre.

Q: How can traditional Chinese medicine deal with migraine?

Dr Da Peng Zhang says:

In terms of traditional Chinese medicine, there are different types of migraine.

External wind-cold or wind-heat both cause headaches but they are not classified as migraine.

1. For migraine the primary pathogenic changes are mainly due to one of the following: rising of Liver Yang, due to stress, emotional problems, Liver Qi stagnation or Kidney Yin deficiency, which causes the Liver Yang to rise and disturbs the head.

Symptoms include migraine, blurring of the vision which is made worse when stressed, also the sufferer may experience hot flushes, thirst and a taut pulse.

2. Blood deficiency, caused by failure of the blood to nourish the head correctly.

Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, palpitations, often worse in the afternoon, tiredness, pale complexion, associated with a heavy periods for women.

3. Blood stagnation also causes migraine, with symptoms including migraine pain in a certain place or a needle-like pricking pain.

This may occur if the patient has a history of external injury, which is often seen in head injury victims and may include a stubborn headache.

Acupuncture is a very effective treatment for migraine. Most cases can be relieved during or immediately after acupuncture. The selection of acupuncture points will depend on the different types of migraine.

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