Meridian-based energy therapies like acupuncture are quite useful for treating a number of health problems such as pain and addictions. Acupuncture is almost always better than drugs or other more invasive treatments.

Headaches are so common, Americans spend more than $1 billion annually on potentially toxic pills to relieve them. There are, of course, far safer methods for treating headaches, one of them being acupuncture.The above study is not the first study to suggest acupuncture works for headaches.

There's no doubt acupuncture is effective for many health problems; for example, in a recent study, electrically stimulated acupuncture lowered blood pressure levels by 50 percent. If you aren't crazy about needles, however, you do have other alternatives that can be just as helpful.

I have found that Emotional Freedom Technique, a needle-free acupressure energy psychology tool that uses the same energy meridians as acupuncture, is a very effective method. I use it in my practice daily, and it can be a powerful means of headache relief.

But in my experience, most headaches, particularly migraines, seem to be triggered by a food-based reaction to wheat, dairy, sugar, artificial preservatives or chemicals. Most migraines can therefore be prevented by eliminating these foods from your diet, as well as eating foods better suited to your body's unique nutritional type.

I have found that over 75 percent of people experience remarkable relief from headache pains once they properly modify their diet. The headache-relief benefits usually come quickly, often within the first couple of days after they begin eating healthily.

Gary Craig's Comment:

Indeed, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) has an impressive success rate with headaches (including migraines). Often the relief is both instant and lasting. There is an entire section on the EFT Web site dedicated to headache relief wherein 15+ cases are described in detail.

Gary Craig is a pioneering developer of EFT, a profoundly effective emotional/mental healing approach. Dr. Mercola attributes much of the incredible and permanent patient successes at his clinic, The Optimal Wellness Center, to the fact that EFT is used with every patient to address all three levels of healing: mind, body and spirit. Of the thousands of natural treatments Dr. Mercola has studied and used in his 20 years of practicing medicine, he feels that EFT is the greatest healing technique that exists. Read more about Gary Craig's EFT Course.