Craig Sather, Doctor of Physical Therapy February 15, 2025 Headaches are a multi-headed dragon. They come from many different sources. Your neck stiffness, temporomandibular joint, eye strain, sinus trouble and of course stress can all kick in to give you miserable headaches. Fortunately, you have answers to each of these problems in my book, “Calming the Headache Storm.” Find it on …
Plethora of Points – Which Ones Should I Start With? You may find it somewhat daunting to know where to begin to use acupressure for headache relief. Let’s narrow down your possibilities. Firstly, you need to know if your client is a headache responder. Start with the powerful Tiger’s Mouth point. Apply pressure to the …
Not All Acupuncture Points are Created Equal 337 acupuncture points exist along 12 main “meridians” that Chinese practitioners plotted 4,000 years ago. Your headache pain likely will benefit from but a few of these points. Interestingly, you will find some of the main headache reducing acupuncture/acupressure points coincide with the trigger points of Western medicine. …
Neck Rotation Headaches can occur when your neck muscles tighten. Press the Tiger’s Mouth point and you may see your neck turning improve. Part of the reason the Tiger’s Mouth point can decrease headache may be that it also loosens up neck muscles. However, we cannot say for sure if this is the reason. I …
What is the “Tiger’s Mouth?” Take your thumb and four fingers and separate them. You are now opening “the mouth” of the tiger. This opening of your fingers and thumbs allows you to apply pressure to the Large Intestine 4 acupoint between your thumb and forefinger. Chinese acupuncturists also name this point Hegu, otherwise known …
Watch Out for Red Flags Be alert for a potential change of status for a client who seemed stable. Clients are normally cleared medically before proceeding to the physical therapy clinic. However, never take anything for granted with any client. I once saw a client who had passed through the system and came to our …
Concussions Have you or anyone you know sustained a concussion? If so, you know firsthand that concussions are yet another source of headaches. Usually, you move past the effects in several months if your concussion was mild. Take steps, though, to make sure concussions are not a repeat performance! However, beware if you suffered a …
Studies on Acupuncture and Acupressure You will not find much in the way of acupressure studies and headaches. However, acupuncture treatment, which uses the same points, offers more study material. You do not need to sift through all the various studies yourself. Use a systematic review to aid you. What is a systematic review? A …
Location of Point You can relieve your headache utilizing acupressure points far away from your head. We explored some of them in previous blogs. However, you find the Gall Bladder 20 headache relief point on your head, just where you might expect it. You can use your fingers to find and treat your headaches by …
More Triple Heater Forearm Points Check out several other points in the Triple Heater meridian besides Triple Heater 9. Find Triple Heater 4 in-between the two bones in the back of your wrist, called the ulna and radius. Triple Heater 4 is exactly on the back part of your wrist joint where it bends. Let …