Should You Get Acupuncture For Headaches
When most people think of ways to treat their headache problems, pills such as advil or ibuprofen come to mind. With that in mind, some people have chosen alternative therapy to treat their problem, and the results may surprise you. Acupuncture is a traditional method of Chinese therapy that has been used for centuries, and many have been drawn to it for its efficiency in dealing with headache problems.
People with chronic daily headaches can know how agonizing it is to feel aches and pains on a daily basis. It can really interfere with your way of life, and taking care of the problem isn’t altogether easy. Using over-the-counter analgesics to deal with the problem may not be effective, as the body can build up a resistance to the pills and punish you with a painful ‘rebound headache’, which doesn’t respond to medication. Since the use of medication is of limited effect when faced with a long-term headache problem, many have been brought into the world of acupuncture.
Acupuncture may draw up frightening images for those with a fear of needles. Acupuncture therapists use needles placed at certain points on the body which are left in for lengths of time to help ease many medical problems. Recently, research into the therapy has shown that its use for treating headaches may rival medication. Studies were conducted in Germany regarding using acupuncture to treat both migraines and tension headaches, which are the two most commonly experienced types of headaches. With the results being published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study showed that indeed, acupuncture was an effective form of therapy.
Advocates of acupuncture insist that the treatment clearly surpasses the use of medication to treat headaches. They state that there is virtually no harm caused to the body though acupuncture, while depending on drugs to ease the pain can result in side effects and pesky rebound headaches. One should be wary of such claims, however, when there isn’t a host of scientific data to back up the point. The German study shows that there can be merit to being treated by acupuncture, but it is only one study. There needs to be more published information regarding the use of acupuncture for treating headaches before any accurate conclusions can be drawn about the treatment’s efficiency. The placebo effect may be to blame for the results, and until more information is collected about the procedure, be sure to consider your options before jumping into any kind of treatment.
Another thing to consider is the gateway theory, which states that the body can only experience so many sensations at once, and when it reaches sensory overload, it will simply reject some of the sensations. This theory is supported by the natural reaction of rubbing and injury: when something is causing you intense pain, you rub it, and the pain seems to go away. This may be due to the gateway theory, and the acupuncture therapy may work in much the same way. By concentrating on the pain of the needles, your body may simply be rejecting the pain signals that it is receiving due to the headache.
