Positive attitude helps fight off headache

By Lee Seung-hun

One of the most common things people suffer from is a headache. Most headaches cannot be contributed to a particular cause even with an expensive Magnetic Resonance Imaging examination.

Thus patients with headaches resort to normal painkillers without any specific treatment.

Two of the most common headaches include tension headaches where the patient feels as if a tight headband is closing, and migraine that usually comes on one side of the head with throbbing that mirrors pulses.

Both of these headaches belong to primary headaches without specific causes.

Tension headaches are caused by constant contraction of the muscles that surround the scalp.

Unlike migraine, both the left and right hemispheres feel the pain and the tension is not limited to the scalp muscles, but prevalent in the shoulder and neck muscles as well.

Therefore, the patient often complains of shoulder and neck pains along with the headaches.

Stress is an aggravating factor for tension headaches.

Physiologically, using computers and smart phones for extended periods of time, and maintaining a stooped back, or even from jaw joint issues from chewing on hard food can cause tension in the shoulder, neck and jaw joints that can contribute to tension headaches.

Tension in those joints in and of themselves can cause what is called “referred pain” to the front and back of the head, forehead and the periorbital areas, meaning that headaches are closely associated with tensions in such areas.

Migraines are most common in young female adults and the pain is generally limited to one side of the head.

They can be caused by various factors that abnormally affect the brain, but the exact mechanisms are unknown.

Migraines resemble the pulse from the heart and the pain is usually described as “throbbing” and can last anywhere between 4 to 72 hours.

Exercises can aggravate migraines, and severe ones can even compromise taking on simple everyday tasks.

Migraine patients sometimes complain of nausea and can vomit from it. Some patients also display a pre-migraine symptom called an “aura.”

It can manifest as flashing lights, or blind spots called scotomas, or even numbing in the hands and feet.

Factors that can trigger migraine include, stress, and food (beer, wine, cheese, chocolate, fermented food products or MSG) and hormonal changes.

A surprisingly large portion of patients who suffer from tension headaches and migraines also complain of indigestion on a regular basis.

Not only wrong types of foods can trigger indigestion, but also slight mental exertion can trigger it as well. Their extremities tend to feel cold and have bad circulation.

Such patients will complain of headaches when indigestion occurs, and thus Oriental treatments will focus on normalizing the digestive tract to alleviate the headaches.

If people fall into this group of patients, Oriental treatments may be a good alternative to simply taking medication.

The human head at the top of the body is where all of the body’s yang-qi gathers.

Yang-gi characteristically rises up, and forcing it down well is how the body achieves proper qi-circulation.

Stress is a “heat” factor in our body, and it is a type of yang-qi, which tends to concentrate towards the head to prevent proper circulation.

This results in tension in the shoulder and necks, and triggers headaches.

For patients with tension headaches and migraines caused by stress, treatments seek to bring down and dissipate the heat accumulated by the stress.

If you frequently suffer tension headaches, and also have posture issues that cause knots in the shoulder and neck areas, posture correction is recommended.

The human head weighs about the same as a bowling ball, and supporting it in the proper upright position is the least strenuous on the neck.

However, if you have a straight-neck the bulk of the weight is pulling down on the stretched neck, putting extra pressure on it and in extension on the shoulders.

Headaches caused by such tension in the neck and shoulders can be alleviated by addressing the posture issue with Chuna chiropractic or acupuncture treatments.

To prevent tension headaches, maintaining the correct posture is important.

If people suffer migraines, it is recommended to find out the trigger foods and avoid them.

Regular exercise can relieve tension from our bodies, and can help prevent both types of these headaches.

The writer practices Oriental medicine at the UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong, Seoul.