Headaches on the back of the head (occiput)

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The following is taken from The Practice of by

Giovanni Maciocia:

 

" Chronic headaches in this area are usually due to a Kidney

deficiency manifesting on the Bladder channel.

 

" Acute headaches here are due to invasion of external Wind (usually

Wind-Cold) and form a typical feature of the Greater Yang pattern

within the 6-Stage pattern identificaiton. This type of headache is

accompanied by great stiffness of the back of the neck. " (Talk about

an understatement!)

 

" In a few cases, occipital headache can be associated with a Bladder

pattern, such as Damp-Heat in the Bladder, in which case the pain

will be sharp. " (P. 8.)

 

That first paragraph is very important. These headaches can occur

because of weak Protective Qi. And the once-in-a-while ones probably

are due to Protective Qi Deficiency. But when the headaches are

frequent and chronic, you just about can bet there is an underlying

Kidney Deficiency which is paving the way for these headaches.

Remember in an earlier post when I talked about the importance of

working Bladder 23 in getting rid of some Wind-Cold headaches.

Working Bladder 23 strengthens the Kidneys. In a few cases if the

headache has not progressed, just working Bladder 23 can get rid of

it. If the headache has progressed and gotten really bad -

especially if nausea and vomiting have set in - it's going to take

other points besides Bladder 23.

 

Note to readers new to TCM: I'm talking about these points like

there's only one of each of them, but the 12 Organ meridians are all

bilateral. They occur on the right and on the left side of the

body. Sometimes both points will be worked, at other times only one

will be. It depends on what the problem is.