Acupuncture For Migraine & Headaches

Chronic headache is one of the most frequent conditions treated by acupuncture. Migraine affects 6 million people in the UK and 70% of these are women. Although a headache may sometimes be an indicator of a more serious medical condition, most headaches are either tension-type headaches or migraines.

Migraine is characterised by moderate to severe headache, frequently with nausea, lasting from 3 hours to 3 days. The pain can be pulsating on one side of the head, often accompanied by increased sensitivity to light and sound. It can be very incapacitating, with normal activity making the symptoms worse.

Tension-type headaches are characterised by mild to moderate headache lasting from 4 to 6 hours typically, although they can be more severe and longer lasting. The pain is often on both sides of the head and feels like the head is being compressed.

For some people drug treatments are effective at reducing the severity, duration and number of attacks. However, if you are taking painkillers regularly, you should read this BBC article "Painkillers 'are the cause' of millions of headaches", which reports on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) first guidelines for treating headaches. The NICE guidelines now include a recommendation for acupuncture in patients susceptible to migraine and tension headaches.

BBC Acupuncture for Migraine Article There have been many controlled trials of acupuncture for migraine, with consistent results indicating acupuncture is significantly better than no treatment/basic care for managing migraine, and appears to be at least as effective as prophylactic drug therapy, with few contraindications or unpleasant side effects (see British Acupuncture Council fact sheets for headache).

I practise traditional Chinese acupuncture. My aim is to offer the most effective treatment possible, not only to provide relief as quickly as possible for your immediate symptoms, but also to address the underlying imbalance causing the problem.

Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on the person as a whole (body and mind) and seeks to enhance their natural healing response rather than suppressing symptoms. The treatment will be tailored to you and your migraine or headache symptoms specifically. This different perspective means acupuncture is often used alongside conventional medicine.

If you would like more detail on what is involved in the treatment, or feel apprehensive about acupuncture in any way, please look at the acupuncture Frequently Asked Questions section, or contact me.

Appointments available at Brighton and Egham.


“I’ve struggled with migraines for the last ten years or so. I have gone down many various routes to try and get to the bottom of them but have never had much success. I found Keith online, and he has already made such an improvement in one session. Such a professional and so easy to talk to. I will be continuing treatments with him. Definitely would recommend to anyone struggling with head-pain.”
 —  Emily *

Legal Disclaimer - results may vary from person to person