Understanding Your Headaches & Migraines
Pain is only meant to be our body’s signal that something needs attention, but that isn’t always easy to identify, and so that signal can create a vicious cycle. A repeated pain signal will negatively affect blood flow, cause contraction and guarding (particularly of the neck with headaches), drain our energy, heighten our sympathetic fight or flight response, increase inflammation, and make us more irritable and anxious. All of this creates an internal environment that is ideal for more headaches.
If you suffer from migraines, you may also experience the following symptoms:
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Visual disturbances
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Photosensitivity
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Nausea
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Vomiting
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Vertigo
Pain relief medications can be useful to help reduce the intensity of headaches and migraines, but when you experience these often, you quickly realise that this is just a band aid fix. For some, the medication doesn’t even help at all. Most people would love to find something that not only helped relieve a current headache or migraine, but also reduced the frequency and severity of future headaches (or even better, got rid of them all together).
If that sounds like you, then it might be time try acupuncture to address the underlying causes. Book a consultation today or contact with any questions.
How do we use acupuncture for headaches and migraines?
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Finding the Source
You were not meant to have constant headaches or frequent migraines. From a Chinese medicine perspective, these are symptoms of an imbalance somewhere in your body that has caused your normal healthy circulation to have become impaired. An acupuncturist’s job is to figure out that imbalance and help restore your internal environment to a point where headaches are no longer produced, or when they are, they’re less intense and less frequent.
For headaches and migraines, the neck and upper back are key areas to be assessed. Often there are certain muscles that contribute to the headache pain. These can be identified through palpation as they will recreate the pain upon pressure. We must also look at treating you as a whole person, rather than just a sore head and tight neck. Stress is going to play a role in chronic headaches and migraines. Good quality sleep is crucial. Digestion and diet can also be a factor that we need to look at. There are many factors we may need to consider and address. Your acupuncturist’s job is to help you navigate all of that too.
At Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction Sydney, we use acupuncture for headaches and migraines tailored specifically to you. Typically if it’s going to be helpful for you, we will know very early on within the first 4-6 treatments (often earlier). That doesn’t mean that you will be completely free of headaches in that time, usually chronic conditions will take some time to unravel and may need ongoing maintenance, but you should feel some early signs of relief or improvement from the acupuncture if it’s going to help.
Once we know how you’re responding to the acupuncture, we’ll then work out a treatment plan for you. The ultimate goal would be to get you to a place where you don’t need acupuncture anymore, or it’s just something you do for maintenance.
If you would like more information on the various types of acupuncture we specialise in, you can check out our dedicated acupuncture page for more details.
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Tailored Treatment for Each Individual
Chinese herbal medicine may also be a useful adjunct when working with headaches and migraines. It’s the same idea as acupuncture, we use it for a period to help address certain imbalances, but as you improve, we aim to get to a point where it’s no longer necessary. If it’s something that we feel will help you along, we’ll discuss it as part of the treatment plan.
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Chinese Herbal Medicine
Frequently Asked Questions
Individual results will vary depending on many different factors, however, acupuncture has been seen in clinical trials and systematic reviews to reduce the frequency of both migraines and tension-type headaches—often matching or surpassing standard preventive medications, but with fewer side effects. See here and here for studies.
It varies per individual, but committing to a series of sessions is recommended as there is an accumulative effect of treatment. A minimum of 6 treatments is recommended by some studies. This is a good starting point, and there should be signs of positive changes within that time, though for maximum benefit, longer periods of treatment are more realistic for chronic conditions.
Acupuncture can be used to work towards prevention goals as well as more acute relief. The ultimate goal is to change the internal reasons leading to migraines, rather than just symptomatic relief. When successful, this means a reduction in frequency and severity of your headaches. If you happen to have an active migraine headache when coming in for a treatment, the goal will obviously be to reduce the current pain, while still working on underlying patterns.
When performed by a qualified and experienced acupuncturist, possible side effects are typically minimal (e.g. chances of bruising or muscle soreness). The quality of your experience and safety is always the priority at Acupuncture Grove.
Yes, there are no major contraindications for acupuncture and it can work well in conjunction with various other therapies. You should continue with anything that is helping you to manage your symptoms. As you progress with acupuncture, you may find less and less need for preventative medications or pain relief, but this should only happen naturally with a reduction in frequency and intensity of migraines.
At a basic level, acupuncture encourages the release of natural pain-relieving chemicals like endorphins, improves blood flow, and targets tight muscles - supporting both immediate relief and longer-term changes. From a traditional perspective, we’re looking to identify and correct key areas of restriction and imbalance within your body that are causing your pain to arise.
Visit Our Clinic
PHONE
LOCATION ADDRESS
2/15 Bronte Rd,
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Located across the road from Westfield Shopping Centre
OPENING HOURS
MON: 9:00am - 6:30pm
TUE: Closed
WED: Closed
THU: 9:00am - 6:30pm
FRI: 8:00am - 1:30pm
SAT: Closed
SUN: Closed
Professionally Certified Acupuncture For Headaches & Migraines in Sydney
Meet Your Acupuncturist
Hi, I'm Gavin from Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction, Sydney.
For those who experience headaches with any frequency, you know that it’s not just a sore head, it can affect your mood, energy, ability to concentrate, make you more irritable and even impact your relationships.
If you would like to try acupuncture for your headaches and migraines in Sydney, then reach out below and book your initial consultation.
Gavin Martin-Rentz
Chinese Medicine Practitioner and Acupuncturist