Headache

Pain in the head. The head is the confluence of yáng, and the brain is the house of clear essence. Distinction is also made between medial headache and hemilateral headache, although the term headache usually refers to medial headache. The qì and blood of the five viscera and six bowels ascend to the head. Headache may be attributable to the six excesses or to internal damage, and arises by pathomechanisms such as obstruction of yáng qì, lodging of turbid evil in the upper body, ascendant liver yáng, and essence-marrow or qì-blood depletion, etc. The nature, severity, and duration of headaches are all important factors in diagnosis. New headaches (headaches of recent onset) often indicate external disease. Distinction is also made according to the exact location of the pain. The location of the headache can show which channel is affected, and hence which channel should be treated.

Patterns

External Contraction

• Common cold headache
• Wind-cold headache
• Wind-heat headache
• Wind-damp headache