Acupuncture for Migraines

If you have ever suffered from migraines you know how debilitating they can be. They can cause severe throbbing in the temples, sides of the head, and often involve the eyes. These intense headaches can last for several days and medication does not always help. People who suffer from migraines often report the only relief comes from locking themselves in a dark, quiet room until it passes.

Chinese Medicine views migraines as an issue involving the wood energy, which contains the Liver and Gall Bladder meridians. One pattern that usually shows up in people who suffer from migraines is called "Liver Yang Rising" which often comes from a deficiency of yin. lets look at what that means. Yin is our grounding energy that is cool, quite, and restful in nature. Our yin can get depleted from overworking, under sleeping, and not taking enough time to relax. As a persons' yin energy is being depleted it throws off the yin/yang balance causing the yang to rise due to insufficient grounding energy (yin). When the Liver energy is involved, the rising yang affects the Liver meridian and its sister meridian, which is the Gall Bladder. The Gall Bladder Meridian travels up the back of the neck and over the head to the temple (usually the path of a migraine.) The pain behind the eyes or the blurred vision comes from the fact that the Liver is associated with the eyes and patterns of the Liver often cause these issues.

Treating migraines with acupuncture is very successful and patients may show improvement after as little as one treatment. The main principle is too calm the Liver Yang by pulling it down and nourishing the yin to help ground the yang.