Headaches and Migraines

Headaches and migraines

Tension headaches and migraines come and go with the change in seasons. Our bodies try to deal with the different stresses that life brings in various ways and with varying degrees of success.

Unfortunately one of the ways our bodies deal with this is through headaches and migraines.

According to Wikipedia, migraines are defined as “a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent, moderate to severe headaches often in association with a number of autonomic nervous system symptoms.

The word itself derives from the Greek ἡμικρανία (hemikrania), “pain on one side of the head”,from ἡμι- (hemi-), “half”, and κρανίον (kranion), “skull”.

A headache (cephalalgia) on the other hand is defined as pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck.

The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by the disturbance of the pain-sensitive structures around the brain.

Ten areas of the head and neck have these pain-sensitive structures:

1. the cranium (the periosteum of the skull)
2. Muscles
3. Nerves
4. Arteries
5. Veins
6. Subcutaneous tissues
7. Eyes
8. Ears
9. Sinuses
10. Mucous membranes

An extremely effective and comforting way to decrease the frequency and pain of headaches and migraines is to rest your hand palm down on a flat surface, at the highest point (the web between your thumb and index finger) mark an ‘x’.

Apply pressure on the ‘x’ and press against your index finger bone until you feel a tender spot. Massage in a clockwise direction and then counter clockwise as long as needed for relief. This point in acupuncture parlance is known as the “large intestine 4″.

Characteristics of headache-related inpatient stays, 2008