• 4.9 million people in Australia experience migraines each year

• 87% of people in a large Melbourne study had at least 1 headache in the last year

• Women are 3 times more likely to have headaches or migraines

• As of 2018, The total economic cost of migraines in Australia is $35.7 billion

These are some pretty wild statistics!

See more on how we work with Acupuncture for Headaches & Migraines.

So what causes headaches and migraines & what helps?

What are the causes of headaches in Chinese Medicine?

In Chinese Med, we look at headaches and migraines in two ways.

Different parts of the face relate to the different Chinese Med organ functions, which helps tell us what’s wrong in the body and where.

We also use the info from all of your body’s symptoms, (not just your headaches and migraines) to form your Chinese Medicine Diagnosis. This tells us the cause and how best to treat your headaches and migraines.

Common causes in Chinese Med are:

• Not having enough coolness & stillness (eg calm, sleep & water) also known as hyperactivity of liver yang

• Being tired/having low iron, also known as qi & blood deficiency

• Tension, with sharp exacerbation - also known as liver qi stagnation causing fire
  

  (yes they have interesting names!)

What causes Headaches and Migraines in Functional Medicine?

There are many possible contributing factors to headaches and migraines. Ones commonly seen in the clinic include:

• Dehydration, lack of sleep, stress, eye strain

• Food intolerances - gluten & chocolate are common causes

• Hormonal reasons - the reason why women are 3 times more likely to get them

• Low iron - this can also contribute to hormonal headaches and migraines

• Low zinc - this can contribute to elevated oestrogen and hormonal headaches & migraines

• Low magnesium - it’s a muscle relaxant! low levels prevalent in migraine sufferers

• MTHFR gene mutations - a gene that can cause high homocysteine levels common in those with migraines

Can Acupuncture help headaches and migraines?

Well, yes it can.

Acupuncture has strong evidence for treating chronic and tension-type headaches and migraine prevention.

This Systematic Review found Acupuncture reduced the frequency of migraine attacks and compared with medication, Acupuncture showed higher effectiveness with less adverse reactions.

See more on how we work with Acupuncture for Headaches and Migraines at Embrace.

Our favourite part of helping you with your headaches and migraines is we also help heal other symptoms you have AND leave you feeling oh so relaxed each session.

Sounds great hey!