Calming the Storm: How Acupuncture Relieves Migraines by Balancing Your Nervous System

Migraines are more than just severe headaches - they’re intense, recurring, and can be completely disruptive to your daily life. While medications may offer temporary relief, many people are turning to acupuncture for a more natural, long-term approach to managing migraine pain.

What Happens During a Migraine?

To understand how acupuncture helps migraines, let's first look at what happens during a migraine attack:

The Pressure Problem

Your brain sits inside your skull protected by tough layers of tissue called the meninges and dura mater. Think of these as protective wrappings—like a tight, fibrous covering—that surround your brain. Between your brain, these protective layers, and your skull, there's very little extra space.

During a migraine, blood vessels inside your head expand—a process called vasodilation. Since there's hardly any room to spare inside your skull, this expansion creates pressure on surrounding tissues. The dura mater and nearby nerves have pain receptors, so this pressure triggers intense, throbbing pain.

It's like trying to inflate a balloon inside a box that's barely big enough to hold the deflated balloon. As it expands, pressure builds against the walls of the box.

The Nerve Connection

While this blood vessel expansion happens, a major facial nerve called the trigeminal nerve becomes overly sensitive. This nerve carries pain signals from your face and head to your brain, and during a migraine, it essentially goes into overdrive, amplifying pain signals.

Chemical Imbalances

On top of these physical changes, your brain experiences shifts in important chemicals that regulate pain and stress:

• Serotonin levels fluctuate (affecting blood vessel behavior)

• Stress hormones like cortisol become imbalanced

• Inflammatory compounds increase

How Acupuncture Addresses Migraine Causes Through the Nervous System

Acupuncture works directly with your nervous system to help rebalance these disrupted patterns:

Regulates Blood Vessel Activity

Acupuncture helps normalize blood vessel behavior in your brain. This reduces the extreme vasodilation that creates pressure on pain-sensitive tissues. Acupuncture essentially helps your blood vessels maintain healthier tone, preventing the sudden expansion that triggers migraine pain.

Calms Overactive Nerves

Acupuncture targets the nervous pathways—particularly the trigeminal nerve system—that become hypersensitive during migraines. Each treatment helps "reset" these nerves to a calmer state, reducing their tendency to overreact and amplify pain signals.

Balances Brain Chemistry

Acupuncture supports healthy serotonin levels, reduces inflammation, and triggers the release of your body’s natural painkillers otherwise known as opioids. Acupuncture triggers the release of 3 types of opioids - beta-endorphin, enkephalins, and dynorphin.

Modulates the Stress Response (HPA Axis)

The HPA axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis) controls stress hormones like cortisol. Acupuncture helps regulate this system, reducing stress-related migraine triggers and improving how your body responds to sleep, diet, and emotional changes.

Backed by Research

Clinical studies consistently show acupuncture helps reduce both the frequency and intensity of migraines:

• A 2017 JAMA Internal Medicine study showed long-term migraine relief with acupuncture, especially in chronic sufferers.

• A 2020 BMJ trial found manual acupuncture significantly outperformed sham treatments.

• Multiple studies confirm acupuncture’s ability to regulate neurotransmitters and improve blood flow in the brain—with fewer side effects than medication.

Taking Control of Your Migraine Pain

Living with migraines doesn't have to be your normal. By addressing the underlying nervous system imbalances that contribute to blood vessel changes, nerve sensitivity, and chemical disruptions, acupuncture offers a natural path to fewer and less severe migraines.

Don't let migraine pain control your schedule any longer. If you have tried all the conventional methods of migraine treatment with little to no success, or are looking to reduce your medication intake, give acupuncture, a drug-free method, a try. Contact our office to learn how a nervous system-focused acupuncture approach can help you find lasting relief.

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References

1.     Zhao L, Chen J, Li Y, et al. (2017). The Long-term Effect of Acupuncture for Migraine Prophylaxis: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 177(4), 508-515.

2.     Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, et al. (2016). Acupuncture for the Prevention of Episodic Migraine. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (6), CD001218.

3.     Xu S, Yu L, Luo X, et al. (2020). Manual Acupuncture Versus Sham Acupuncture and Usual Care for Prophylaxis of Episodic Migraine Without Aura: Multicentre, Randomised Clinical Trial. The BMJ, 368, m697.

4.     Li Y, Zheng H, Witt CM, et al. (2012). Acupuncture for Migraine Prophylaxis: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184(4), 401-410.

Naderinabi B, Saberi A, Hashemi M, et al. (2017). Acupuncture and Botulinum Toxin A Injection in the Treatment of Chronic Migraine: A Randomized Controlled Study. Caspian Journal of Internal Medicine, 8(3), 196-204.