Hello,
Recently I relieved a migraine through acupressure. I applied a lot of pressure on the big toes, under the nail and in the centre. I have only studied acupuncture briefly and have not found this point in my literature. My question is does anyone know what this point is and is it safe for my friend to use whenever she has a migraine?
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Thanks :-)
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
Anything that your friend can do to make her migraine go away, particularly if it works nearly every time, is completely fine. That said with proper treatment from someone over a period of time in many cases you can make migraines go away permanently with no further need for treatment. In other words, unless it is your only option, do not be satisfied with simply managing the condition as it is treatable.
Now to answer your question more specifically, I'm not aware of what points you are using specifically. However, off channel (or pressure sensitive) points are commonly used in acupuncture also listed as "ashi" or "ouch" points (i.e. needling where the patient says palpation is sensitive). My guess in your case is that you are getting close to what would be the jing well points (the start and end of various meridians found near the nail bed) which are often used to clear heat and excess activity near the opposite end of the channel. So some on the feet like the liver, stomach, gall bladder, urinary bladder, etc. can be used to clear excess activity in the head/eyes/face.
Comment by Archived User
Most migraine is because of Liver Yang rise up, the big toe is the begining where the liver meridian come from, so massage the big toe area, can pull down liver yang and reduce migriane, and the spleen meridian also come from big toe, if the patient has Liver and Spleen unharmony cause migraine also can be treated. In foot massage map, the big toe is head reflection area, massage big toe can cure headache even high blood presure problems.