Originally published July 20 2005
Natural therapies may be best for chronic headache pain
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Natural therapies like acupuncture, herbs and self-massage may help ease pain from chronic headaches, and in a study of 401 adults published in the British Medical Journal, those treated with acupuncture over a three-month period experienced a 34 percent decline in headaches as compared to a 16 percent decline in those treated with traditional headache medicines.
It seems as if there's always a culprit causing our heads to throb -- stress, allergies, even menopause.
Occasional headaches are tolerable, but if chronic headaches have you continually ravaging your medicine cabinet for relief, you might consider alternative therapies for treatment and prevention, suggests Aubrey Ragland, doctor of Oriental Medicine in Albuquerque.
Acupuncture, herbs and self-massage are among the possible approaches, says Ragland, who practices at Yi Lin on Indian School NE.
One of the first steps toward treatment is determining the underlying cause.
Experts say most people suffer from tension-type or migraine headaches.
With allergy-induced or cold and flu headaches, for instance, "acupuncture helps to harmonize the immune system," he says.
Acupuncture can relieve menopausal headaches by stimulating endorphin release, which helps to regulate hormones, Ragland adds.
A study in the British Medical Journal last year randomly assigned 401 adults to receive 12 acupuncture treatments over a three-month period or to continue their usual treatment with traditional headache medications.
The National Institutes of Health has issued a statement suggesting that acupuncture is effective for treating nausea and acute dental pain, and that other conditions -- including headaches - - may respond to acupuncture but require additional studies.
Herbal treatments also can be effective for treating headaches, especially those caused by allergies, even if patients have sinus infections, Ragland says.
Licorice root acts as a histamine and angelica helps guide relief to the front of the head, where most allergy headaches start, he explains.
Other studies have shown that vitamin B2, or riboflavin, helps some migraine patients, as do magnesium and feverfew.
This point stimulates five areas in the brain, one of which correlates to headaches and has been shown to open nasal passages, he says.
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