By Casilda Balmaceda
Many people who suffer from headaches are seeking - and finding - relief in alternative remedies such as acupuncture, biofeedback, and meditation.
In the study, of over 70 adults attending a pain clinic in New York, 85% employed alternative therapies to relieve their pain and 60% of them believed the therapies were effective.
Nearly all patients included in the study were familiar with at least one of the 49 alternative treatments presented in a questionnaire, with massage, acupuncture, and biofeedback among the most popular. 88% believed at least one of these treatments was an effective headache remedy. A number of studies have found, however, that most patients using alternative methods don't inform their physicians about it.
Those who did not try alternative therapies cited cost and lack of a referral, time or insurance coverage, as the reasons, not lack of medical data.
Due to the widespread knowledge of and strong confidence in such therapies, though, the study authors called for more scientific research into these alternative methods.
Cephalalgia 2002;22:395-400
Headaches are so common that the US spends over $1 billion every year just to treat migraines. This is just the cost of the treatment and does not include costs due to lost workdays and reduced employee productivity. If those are factored in, the price increases to $13 billion annually (Business Week August 26, 2002 p. 146).
I am continuously amazed at how effective the eating plan is at controlling the vast majority of headaches, especially severe migraines.
In my experience, over 75% of people show remarkable improvement with their headaches once they modify their diet according to the plan. The wonderful thing is, the headache relief is rapid, usually occurring in the first few days.
This is particularly important to remember when making the transition to the diet, as you only need to stick with the changes for a few days before noticing relief.
The eating plan eliminates virtually all common food-related causes of headaches. Perhaps the most important one is the major challenges that most people have with insulin shifts. This rapidly resolves once grains and sugars are eliminated from the diet. But, when first starting the program, it is important to remember to eat every two hours while you are awake, or there is a high likelihood the headaches may actually worsen due to hypoglycemic episodes.
Still, shifting to the ideal diet does not work for all headaches. When diet changes don't provide sufficient relief, I usually advise a gentle form of neuromuscular massage from Australia called NST. This is an incredibly gentle yet amazingly effective tool for resolving these types of problems.
You can click on our link of NST practitioners to find an expert close to you. For health care practitioners interested in learning this valuable tool, we are offering NST training in September.
Psychological acupuncture approaches are also incredibly effective and I recommend this free manual to introduce you to the EFT approach.
Related Articles:
Wheat Can Cause Severe Headaches Frequent Headaches Plague Millions
Wheat Can Cause Severe Headaches
Frequent Headaches Plague Millions