[Oriental Medicine]Frequent headaches in mankind’s future

Mar 03,2007
The head is a control center where vast amounts of information about internal organic function and external environmental stimuli are collected, analyzed, stored and acted upon. The sophisticated processor that manages these tasks, the human brain, is protected through a series of shields. Externally, the hard skull and its subjacent buffer zones, consisting of membranes and cerebrospinal fluid, protect the brain from physical trauma. Internally, the blood-brain barrier protects the brain by keeping most circulating toxins, such as metabolic wastes, from entering the brain tissue.
Headaches are a common symptom of various acute and chronic diseases, particularly hypertension and migraine. The primary cause is pressure exerted on the nerves, and the inducing causes include: stress, anxiety, menses, oral contraceptives, bright light, barometric pressure drops, lack of sleep, hunger, overexertion, head injury and food allergies.
Oriental Medicine distinguishes 16 different kinds of headaches, divided into external and internal pathogens.
External pathogens like wind, cold, heat, or damp ― particularly in combination ― can cause general aching and a stuffy nose with watery discharge. These kinds of symptoms are often connected to colds or flu and are therefore short-term.
Chronic forms of headaches, like migraines, are often correlated to endogenic disharmonies, which are a result of either hypo-functioning or hyper-functioning of different organs.
Headache due to an upsurge of liver yang for instance, is a situation caused by long-term accumulation of mental stress, which causes liver qi stagnation. This creates heat, which naturally rises toward the head, and eventually causes head distension, red face coloration, irritability, dizziness and blurred vision. It is treated by using acupuncture to sedate the liver and gallbladder meridians, and by ingesting herbs that relieve the pressure on the liver yang.
A typical syndrome involves a headache due to a deficiency of qi (energy) and/or blood, with a dull aching at the vertex, or everywhere in the head, with slight muscle spasms or twitching at the temples. Symptoms include dizziness, blurred vision, a pale face, skittishness and palpitations, with a thin white coat on the tongue and a weak pulse. Generally, energy-leveraging herbs, like ginseng, are mixed with blood-supporting herbs for treatment.
Another type of headache, which is increasingly afflicting people who work with computers for several hours a day, is a tension headache. It is caused by continuous tension of certain muscle tissues stretching from the shoulder-neck area up to the ocular region. These over-constricted muscles squeeze the superficial cranial nerve fibers, causing pain. To ease the tension, trigger points in the relevant muscle fibers have to be released by either acupuncture or manual therapy.
The life pattern of modern homo sapiens is changing. Mental stress, a heavy diet and less exercise, combined with increasing exposure to electromagnetic radiation sources, are directing more energy toward the head, creating a society that will have more headaches.

Raimund Royer is Medical Director of the International Clinic at the Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine.

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