How does Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnose headaches?

Most people experience headaches at some point in their lives. Some people can get relief or the symptoms disappear after rest, but others will have persistent or recurring headaches, which may cause people to be restless, lose their appetite, suffer from insomnia, and even have a huge impact on their daily life. If the cause is not checked promptly, it may have very serious consequences. So, how does TCM treat headaches?

TCM Theory on Causes of Headaches

There are many causes of headaches. Western medical theory roughly divides headaches into primary headaches and secondary headaches according to the causes. Primary headaches include migraine, tension-type headaches, etc., most of which have a benign course; secondary headaches include organic lesions such as head and neck trauma, intracranial infection, and intracranial tumors. For secondary headaches with clear causes, the causes should be removed as soon as possible. For example, intracranial infection should be treated with anti-infection, and intracranial tumors should be considered for surgical treatment.

In traditional Chinese medicine theory, headache refers to a type of symptom characterized by pain in the head. Recurring and long-term headaches are called "head wind". The Ming Dynasty's "Compendium of Ancient and Modern Medicine: The Great Method of Classifying Internal and External Causes of Headaches" summarized headaches as follows: "Headaches caused from the inside are diseases of qi, blood, phlegm and fluid, and stagnation of qi in the five internal organs, such as Dongyuan's discussion on headaches caused by qi deficiency, blood deficiency, and phlegm syncope. Headaches caused from the outside are diseases of wind, cold, heat and dampness, such as Zhang Zhongjing's theory of cold syndrome and Dongyuan's six meridians." That is to say, the causes and pathogenesis of headaches are divided into:

1. Being affected by external pathogens is mostly caused by careless living habits, sitting or lying in the wind, being affected by external pathogens such as wind, cold, dampness and heat, which invade the head, causing poor circulation of the clear yang qi, blocking the meridians and causing headaches.

2. Emotional depression and anger: Long-term mental stress and depression can cause liver qi stagnation, liver dysfunction and headache; or a violent temper, excessive anger, qi stagnation turning into fire, liver yang dysfunction and hyperactivity. The Qi is stagnant and the pulses are full, the clear Yang is disturbed and causes headaches.

3. Improper diet, a preference for fatty and sweet foods, overeating, or overworking the spleen and stomach, which results in spleen yang deficiency, inability of the spleen to transport and transform body fluids, which accumulate and form phlegm, and the clear orifices are covered by phlegm and dampness; phlegm blocks the brain meridians, causing poor blood circulation, and the blood vessels are deprived of nourishment and pain.

4. Insufficient congenital endowment, or overwork and desire that damage the kidneys, depletion of yin essence, or decline of qi and blood due to old age, or long-term illness, postpartum or blood loss, deficiency of blood and nutrients, inability of qi and blood to reach the brain, pain due to lack of marrow.

5. Headaches caused by falls due to trauma, long-term illness, blocked meridians, blood stasis and qi stagnation, and malnutrition of blood vessels.