Acupuncture for Headaches at Home: Use These 8 Best Points to Get Rid of It.

Having a headache is one of those things no matter how often you experience it, you will never get used to it.

While sure, you can take an Ibuprofen and be done with it, there are ways to get rid of the headache without hurting your stomach (because NSAIDs hurt your stomach lining when taken often). So here is a quick guide for Acupuncture for headaches at home.

When using Acupuncture for headaches at home, your best choices will be Large Intestine 4, Gallbladder 20, Governor vessel 20, Yintang, Taiyang, and Bladder 60, among others. Apart from acupuncture, make sure to maintain proper hydration, practice deep breathing exercises, and rest your eyes for a while if you work with screens.

When dealing with a headache, make sure you are properly hydrated, pay attention to the amount of coffee you may be consuming, as it can cause an abstinence headache, see if you are under psychological tension that makes your head hurt, and make sure you are resting your eyes if you happen to have to use screens for work.

Diagnosing Headaches With TCM

The first step in determining which points are the most useful to treat headaches will depend on the diagnosis.

The subject of headaches as symptoms of broader entities is a truly interesting one and more extensive than the aim of this article. However, it is necessary to note that not every headache is the same.

You can have a pulsing headache that is located on the back or front of the head. Sometimes the headache is so intense that it covers the whole head, or at least half of it.

For every headache, there is a diagnosis and a prescription of points.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, headaches or cephalalgia has three main causes:

• External pathogenic factors: Cold Wind, and Hot Wind.
• Internal Factors: Head Wind.
• Disturbances of the vital substances: Excessive Liver Yang, or Deficiency of Qi and Blood.

These disturbances mess up the proper flow of Qi and Blood through the meridians and vessels, causing headaches.

Clinical Features of the Different Headaches According to TCM

• Cold Wind: aversion to cold, fever without sweating, stuffed nose, clear nasal discharge, tongue with thin white coating.
• Hot Wind: Fever, aversion to wind, sweating, thirst, dry and sore throat, yellow coating of the tongue.
• Head Wind: Intermittent and persistent headache.
• Excessive Liver Yang: Violent and penetrating pain, that can be accompanied by dizziness, bitter taste in the mouth, nausea, and pain below the right ribs.
• Deficiency of Qi and Blood: This is a slow-onset headache mostly due to tension and tiredness. It is insidious pain that is relieved by pressure or warmth. It is often accompanied by lassitude, palpitations, insomnia, pale tongue, and weak pulse.

For more information about the Pathogenic Factors, see this post:

Causes of Disease in TCM

Acupuncture for Headaches at Home: Acupuncture Points

Here is a simplified list of Acupuncture points you can use to treat your headaches at home. There are General points that work in almost every case as well as a cause-specific list should you want to take your treatment further.

General Points

These are the points you can use at all times. It doesn’t matter the specific cause of the headache, these will relieve it.

Yintang

Located between the eyebrows.

Large Intestine 4

Located on the back of your hand, in the area between your thumb and index finger, in the middle of the metacarpal bone of your index finger on its radial side.

Gallbladder 20

Located in the nape, below the occipital bone, in a depression between the occipital and the mastoid process.

Bladder 60 (Kunlun)

The so-called Aspirin point for its amazing analgesic properties. Located behind the outer ankle, 1 cun behind the tip of the ankle, in a depression between the ankle and the Achilles tendon.

Taiyang

It is located on the temple following a straight line from the edge of your eyes, in the depression formed in that area. This is a main point in the treatment of headaches.

Shixuan

Located on the tip of your fingers, 0.1 cun below the nails. You can pinch them with the tip of a pen or prick them to cause bleeding.

Governor Vessel/Du Mai 24

Located at the top of the head along the midline, 0.5 cun posterior to the front hairline

Governor Vessel 20 (Baihui)

Situated at the top of the head, in the intersection of lines drawn from the tip of the ears and the midline, this point promotes relaxation and uplifts the spirit.

Cause-Specific Point Combinations

Now let’s see what combinations reap the best results for their specific diagnosis:

Cold Wind: Taiyang + Large Intestine 4

Hot Wind: Large Intestine 4 + Gallbladder 20

Head Wind: Gallbladder 20

Excessive Liver Yang: Taiyang + Gallbladder 8 (1.5 cun above the apex of the ear) + Liver 2 (dorsum of the foot, on the space between the first and second toe)

Deficiency of Qi and Blood: Taiyang + Gallbladder 8 + Stomach 36 (3 cun below the kneecap and 1 cun to the outer side, in the depths of the tibialis muscle)

How to use the Acupuncture Points

Select three to five points to use at a time. Firmly press them for about 30 seconds and then let go, rest for about 45 seconds, and then repeat. Your headache should ease after a couple of sessions.

Final thoughts

Having headaches does not have to be problematic and you don’t need to be taking pills every time you are having one.

By using these points I gave you, according to the causes listed before, you are on your way to managing your nasty headaches using Chinese medicine.

Let me know how it went!

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