Headache — one-sided

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Textbook Prescriptions Headache and Dizziness

Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture (Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing Colleges of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1980) — the standard prescriptions of the Chinese colleges.

Points

EX-HN5 Taiyang affected side

Extra point at the temple; local point for temporal pain
GB8 Shuaigu affected side

Gall Bladder point above the ear; local Foot-Shaoyang point for the temple
TE5 Waiguan bilateral

Luo point of the San Jiao; distal Hand-Shaoyang point for the side of the head
GB41 Zulinqi bilateral

Shu-Stream of the Gall Bladder; distal Foot-Shaoyang point for the temple

Needling Safety

Cited hazards for these points. Tick what applies to the patient to see the cautions that follow from it.

No cited needling data yet for EX-HN5. No flag here does not mean no risk.

Treatment Principle

Dispel wind, open the channels and regulate qi and blood by pairing temporal points with distal Shaoyang points.

Indications

Pain at one or both temples, or one side of the head (Gall Bladder channel, Foot-Shaoyang)excess type: violent boring pain with dizziness, irritability, bitter taste, nausea, chest oppression, hypochondriac pain, sticky tongue coating, wiry pulsedeficient type: dull pain brought on by strain, eased by warmth and pressure, with fatigue, palpitations, poor sleep, pale tongue, weak pulse

Method

Reducing method for the excess (liver yang) type; reinforcing method, or tapping with a cutaneous needle, for the deficient (qi and blood) type.

⚠ Cautions

A sudden severe ('worst ever') headache, headache with fever and neck stiffness, neurological signs, a new headache after age 50, or headache after head injury needs urgent medical assessment before acupuncture.

About

The textbook's prescription for one-sided (migrainous) or temporal headache, which it attributes to the Shaoyang channels.

Rationale

Taiyang and GB8 sit on the painful temple; TE5 on the forearm and GB41 on the foot work on the same region through the Hand- and Foot-Shaoyang channels. The pairing of near and far points opens the channels and eases pain.

Clinical Notes

Points by pattern: for rising liver yang, add LV2 and GB34; for deficient qi and blood, add CV6 and ST36. The book notes that headache arises in many medical, surgical, neurological, psychiatric and ENT conditions, and that acupuncture works well for migraine and for vascular and functional headache. It also describes cutaneous-needle tapping with cupping and an ear-acupuncture option.

Sources

Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, et al. Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1980. Chapter III, Headache, p. 336–338.

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