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Acupuntcure Treatment For Migraine Relief
Acupuncture comes from the Oriental Medicine, a therapy used to alleviate pain and bringing lasting relief. In its literal sense, it means 'needle piercing' involving stimulation of specific anatomic points in the body to treat an illness or a pain where an effort is made to restore positive energy flow by concentrating on points most suspected to cause the pain or illness. For thousands of years acupuncture has been used to bring relief to migraine headaches and its underlying causes.
Oriental medicine is based on Qi which is supposed to be a life energy flowing through the body on meridians that are channels connecting all major organs. When cyclical flow of Qi becomes unbalanced illnesses arise, a belief of Chinese medical history. Acupuncture is the stimulation of points on the body and by getting access to the meridians, the energy can be balanced and adjusted.
Treatment
The acupuncture points related to causing headaches are located all over the body. Acupuncture involves painless insertion of very thin needles placed along the arms, legs and shoulders. Due to the penetration of the needles, there is an occasional discomfort, but gets more relaxing once they are in place. Typically a treatment lasts for 30 minutes, once or twice a week, with relief in some symptoms, while multiple treatments are required for more severe ones.
Acupuncture being the most thoroughly researched and tested among alternative medical treatments, has shown positive results in reducing migraine headaches hence reducing intake of prescription drugs. Sustained relief is provided and studies showing patients suffering from migraine headaches experienced mild or no headaches six months into the acupuncture treatment. A lot of surveys have revealed that acupuncture has a 'placebo' effect, where the migraneur believes this non-medicative treatment will work and so it does. Migraine is caused by the flow of blood being reduced to the brain, treating it by acupuncture improves the blood flow. Also, serotonin levels are believed to be balanced by this treatment, which are neurotransmitters that affect blood vessels playing a role in triggering migraine attacks. Endorphins are natural pain killers released by the body and studies have suggested that acupuncture helps in releasing these chemicals which in turn helps manage migraine pain.
Conclusions
Acupuncture has gained a lot of awareness over the years especially among people who want to refrain from taking over-the-counter medications but to adopt more natural treatments to reduce or prevent the acute migraine headaches. However this field requires formal training and the doctor needs to be certified to practice. Along with it being a science, it is an art that takes a lot of time to master, hence careful research needs to be done in finding a good acupuncturist who is well experienced in the treatment of migraine headaches.