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. 2020 Feb 13:9:2164956120905817.
doi: 10.1177/2164956120905817. eCollection 2020.

Integrative East-West Medicine Intervention for Chronic Daily Headache: A Case Report and Care Perspective

Justin G Laube  1   2 , Thais Salles Araujo  1 , Lawrence B Taw  1   2
Affiliations

Integrative East-West Medicine Intervention for Chronic Daily Headache: A Case Report and Care Perspective

Justin G Laube et al. Glob Adv Health Med. .

Abstract

Chronic daily headache is a group of headache syndromes including most commonly chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache, which often overlap, are complicated by medication overuse and are disabling, costly, and variable responsive to western pharmacotherapeutic interventions. There is growing research and awareness of integrative health approaches and therapies to address patients with chronic headache, yet limited examples of how to deliver this approach. This article reviews a commonly seen challenging case of a patient with overlapping chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache complicated by medication overuse managed with an integrative east-west medicine intervention. This included person-centered biopsychosocial history taking, traditional Chinese medicine informed acupuncture, trigger point injections, and contributing factors modifications. A narrative review of the literature is presented to demonstrate an evidence-informed rationale for incorporating nonpharmacologic approaches to effectively help reduce the symptom burden of this patient population.

Keywords: acupuncture; chronic daily headache; integrative medicine; migraine; trigger point.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Acupoint and TPI Locations. TPI locations: a, sub-occipital; b, trapezius; c, rhomboid. Acupoint locations: 1, Du-20; 2, Yintang; 3, LI-10; 4, LI-4; 5, SJ-3; 6, GB-34; 7, ST-36; 8, SP-6; 9, LV-3.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Acupressure Self-Care Handout.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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