In a recent survey conducted by the New York Times, it was shown that almost three quarter of Americans (73%) suffer from headaches. People having to deal with headaches on a regular basis know very well that Western medicine simply doesn’t work for their problem. You may be one of the lucky few who have found a treatment that temporarily relieves the pain, minus the myriad side effects of most medications. But for the rest of us unlucky ones, no medications are available that can help with the pain. This may be news to you, but a growing number of individuals suffering from headaches can experience long lasting relief with acupuncture. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been experiencing headaches, it may be a few days or even several decades, acupuncture in Spokane can completely cure the cycle of pain.

How is this possible? The answer is that besides treating the headache itself, it also cures the origin of the headache. Acupuncture is part of an ancient Oriental medical system known as Chinese medicine, a healing tradition that addresses the root of the problem, which is an internal imbalance that generates the headaches. Stress also is a major contributor to several types of headaches, but if one does not suffer from an internal imbalance, stress would not be enough of a factor to trigger a headache. This means that when a person’s underlying health is strong, stress would not be able to cause health problems such as headaches. Acupuncture treatment makes the person healthy inside and out enabling him/her to withstand the ill-effects of stress.

How does acupuncture improve your health? If you are new to acupuncture, it may be hard for you to imagine how inserting a tiny needle into a certain part of your body can enhance your health. The human body has points on the surface of the skin known as acupuncture points that generates a specific therapeutic effect when a solid needle is inserted into them. The Chinese found that by stimulating the right acupoints (most of which are found on the legs and arms) with needles, messages are relayed to specific organs which leads to a cascade of physiological processes meant to effect healing or an improvement in overall health and well-being. And, like a dimmer switch, the needles can be manipulated in such a way to modify the type of message that is sent.

But how does one know what organ to treat or message to send for any given symptom or disease? In Chinese medicine an imbalance causing a specific type of illness can be resolved through a specific combination of acupoints. When dealing with headaches, there can be 20 different types of imbalances that can bring about different forms of headaches. Some headaches cause a dull achy pain in the back of the head, sharp stabbing pain to the temples, severe migraines with auras and light sensitivity, or persistent but mild daily headaches, among many others. A practitioner of Chinese medicine will first identify the type of imbalance that is causing your headache. He/she then will come up with a point prescription that will exactly correct the imbalance. Then the practitioner will start to insert the needles into the corresponding points with skill and precision to heal the organs and obtain the required results.

How long do the benefits last? Most of the time the benefits accrued from an acupuncture treatment last a very long time. A lot of people have been completely cured of their headaches that they never have any reason to come back for treatment. Some people just want to experience the relaxing and energizing effects of acupuncture so they come in for regular treatments. Some people frequently get acupuncture treatment in order to stay healthy and prevent their body from falling into dis-ease. Acupuncture simply puts your body back into balance and keeps it in balance for a very long time.