Auricular Acupuncture and Chinese Dietary Therapy in the Treatment of Patients with Chronic Headache

Introduction: Headaches are common symptoms and are caused by various factors [1-7]. They can be divided into functional and organic headaches. The treatment in Western Medicine consists in the use of anti-inflammatory medications, according to the type of headache diagnosed. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, auricular acupuncture (AA) associated with Chinese dietary therapy (CDT) can be extremely useful for patients with chronic headaches and migraines, especially those that did not find comfort or success in their current treatment.

Purpose: This article aims to analyze the effects of AA associated with CDT in patients with chronic headache or migraine.

Methods: Research of over 1500 patient records who had undergone AA and CDT, in the Medical Acupuncture and Pain Management Clinic, in the city of Franca, São Paulo, Brazil. From these, 160 (10.66%) had headache symptoms. A questionnaire was filled by phone by 69 (43,12%) of these patients.

Results: A considerable number of patients, 65 (94.20%) who had undergone AA and CDT for the treatment of headache symptoms had improved. From this group 44 (63.78%) felt improvement in 4 or less sessions, whereas 21 (30.43%), felt improvement only after more than 4 sessions. Sixty-five (94.20%) of the patients evaluated the effectiveness of AA and CDT for their headaches as being excellent or good. Ten (14.49%) had a history of hospitalization for headaches, with 36 (52.17%) declaring previous neurological treatment. From the results it is possible to see that 55 (79.71%) of the patients considered that they had been completely cured or had significant improvement.

Conclusion: With 65 (94.20%) of approval, it can be concluded AA and CDT were useful in the treatment of headaches of the patients analyzed.

Keywords: Auricular Acupuncture, Chinese Dietary Nutrition, Energy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Headache.