Headaches and Migraine

Headaches and Migraine

As I have stated in the past within my treatments of client chief concerns I will usually use acu-moxa for more internal system issues( hormonal, digestive, immunological etc.) For issues related to musculoskeletal disorders especially those in which there is only pain with certain motions, I tend to use more manual therapy interventions.

Some particular cases however may blur the lines of these two. One of these ailments tends to be a chronic headache(HA) or migraine. More than many of the other issues I tend to see in the clinic, HA and migraines tend to have some relation to both the musculoskeletal system but also internal systems ( hormonal or neurologic systems).

These sessions typically revolve around proper assessment of the structures of the scapula, spine( thoracic and cervical mostly), and shoulder( glenohumeral joint). Along with findings there, I tend to find other issues regarding sleep, menses and levels of perceived stress.

Overall these bouts of HA and the more extreme migraines can be a little more complex to deal with as they can have multifaceted systems involved. I have seen Manual Therapy, Acu-moxa, and the extra addition of Chinese Herbal Formulation to be helpful.

As far as acupuncture there are studies that help show its potential as a way of treatment.

In one study Wang et all compared real acupuncture and sham acupuncture in participants with frequent migraines.

”The number of days with migraine (migraine days) was significantly reduced in both groups over the 20-week treatment period [𝐹(5, 240) = 18.4, 𝑃 < 0.001] and the reduction was greater in the RA group than in the SA group [𝐹(5, 240) = 4.5, 𝑃 = 0.002]. Post hoc analysis revealed that the RA group has less migraine days than SA group did, at the end of treatment and 3-month follow up”

On the manual therapy side of things, there have been some studies that showed improvement with work done to primary areas of issues. In one study participants were asked to fill out “The Headache Impact Test (HIT-6)27 provides an overall measure of the adverse impact of headaches. This questionnaire consists of six items measuring the impact of headache on social functioning, role functioning, vitality, cognitive functioning, and psychological distress, and provides a measure of the severity. The overall value ranges from 36 to 78 points: 49 points or less are considered headaches with little or no impact on the patient's life at that time; 50–55 points are headaches with a certain impact on life; 56–59 points are headaches that have a significant impact on life, and 60 or more are headaches with a severe impact on life. “

The conclusion of the study showed..

“Overall, the patients scored 63.20 points on the HIT-6 at baseline and the impact of headache reduced to 51.07 after treatment, indicating a clinically significant improvement.30 The average HIT-6 score was 53.4 ± 8.7 points, and 68% of the patients were impacted to a moderate-to-severe degree according to the HIT-6 scoring.6 For comparison, recent work38 evaluated the effect of six craniosacral therapy sessions on the impact of headache and showed a change from 65 points to 58 upon completion of the trial.”

In this particular study, the measurements were done only looking at the questionnaire differences 1-week post the end of the 8-week trial so there was no long-term assessment.

As I stated before this particular issue can be complex and have many varying factors. These were just two studies showing some observations but it seems to coincide with what I tend to find with current anecdotal experiences with the clients who suffer from this particular issue.

If you suffer from these particular issues yourself it would be good to get assessed as I said there could be a multitude of factors ranges from musculoskeletal issues in the neck, face, jaw and upper spine as well as other imbalances in the internal systems. A complete check of all systems would likely help on the journey of minimizing if not erradicating symptoms or at least making them manageable.

References:

Espí-López, G.-V., Ruescas-Nicolau, M.-A., Nova-Redondo, C., Benítez-Martínez, J. C., Dugailly, P.-M., & Falla, D. (2018). Effect of Soft Tissue Techniques on Headache Impact, Disability, and Quality of Life in Migraine Sufferers: A Pilot Study. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 24(11), 1099–1107. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ocom.edu:2443/10.1089/acm.2018.0048

Yanyi Wang, Xue, C. C., Helme, R., Costa, C. D., & Zhen Zheng. (2015). Acupuncture for Frequent Migraine: A Randomized, Patient/Assessor Blinded, Controlled Trial with One-Year Follow-Up. Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine (ECAM), 1–14. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ocom.edu:2443/10.1155/2015/920353