Headaches Treatment & Prevention – Part 3
Having looked at how to describe and classify headaches & migraines in my introduction, I then moved on to look at how massage can help sufferers in part 1. Then in part 2 I looked at how nutrition and Bowen technique could help. I want to continue to explore the impact of complementary therapies on headaches.
Cranio-Sacral Therapy
Cranio-sacral therapy is a system of alternative medicine intended to relieve pain and tension by gentle manipulations of the skull regarded as harmonizing with a natural rhythm in the central nervous system.
Cranio-sacral therapists suspect the occipito-atlanteal junction at the top of the neck may contribute to the cause of headaches especially migraines. If the first vertebrae and the occipital condyles at the base of the skull become jammed together or fixed, which effects the vagus nerves, throwing the parasympathetic nervous system into dysfunction. Cranio-sacral therapists report releasing the occipital condyles nearly always results in the reduction of migraines patterns in clients.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a treatment derived from ancient Chinese medicine in which fine needles are inserted at certain sites in the body for therapeutic or preventative purposes. There is some scientific evidence acupuncture has a beneficial effect on headaches and migraines (see >> http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Acupuncture/Pages/Evidence.aspx)
Related Posts
The scientific evidence base for Sports & Deep Tissue Massage
I would like to write a series of blog articles on the scientific evidence for massage. I think it is important to start by stating the obvious that while massage can be studied, not many scientists are interested in studying it and not many massage therapists have scientific training. This means that massage is woefully under researched. In addition it is amazingly difficult to find 100 people with the same problem, who need exactly the same massage treatment, so large scale studies are very rare, which means a weakness of most studies is their size. Finally, while, most scientists are interested in how massage works, we don't have to know how something works to know if it works. I know most of my clients are interested in scientific evidence but equally important is anecdotal evidence, their own opinion and experience of the treatment. What it crystal clear from scientific data and widely agreed upon by massage therapist researchers is that massage
- Reduces anxiety
- Reduces depression
- Reduces stress
- Reduces high BP
Mundane superfoods – part 2
In part 1, I explored how you could swap lemon balm for caco. I want to continue this theme of swaping more common foods for exotic super foods: Use Blueberries for Acai Berries Acai berries (pronounced ah-sah-EE), a sort of cross between a grape and a blueberry, look very much like the latter and, oddly, taste a little like a berry dipped in chocolate. They've been used in traditional medicine to treat infections from parasites, ulcers, hemorrhaging, ulcers and diarrhea. Acai berries come from the Amazon region. Besides the berries themselves, the juice and pulp are commonly added to teas, fruit drinks, fruit bars and other products geared toward health and vitality. Nutritionally, these little berries contain high levels of antioxidants, flavonoids and anthocyanins. But as beneficial as acai berries are, their nutritional profile is very comparable to that of blueberries, which are readily available in your local supermarket. Blueberries have truly remarkable benefits for cardiovascular health, as well as for your brain, insulin response and even cancer prevention. Packed with vitamin C, which boosts your immune system and helps collagen to form, they're also loaded with fiber for greater regularity, impacting your heart health, and manganese, a mineral noted for energy conversion and proper bone development. Reference Blueberry Council
