68-year-old Patricia has had headaches for a week. The pain begins in the left side of her upper neck and back of the head and sometimes radiates forward toward the left eye. It is an intense stabbing pain, and the bouts of pain are quite frequent. Since she had benefited a lot from my acupuncture treatments in the past, Patricia decided to see me again for this problem. According to the character of the pain, I believed this condition was occipital neuralgia, which is caused by damage to the occipital nerves, commonly arising from trauma (usually concussive), physical stress on the nerve, or repetitive neck contraction, flexion or extension. I did a physical examination for her neck and did find tension and tenderness especially on the left side. I applied acupuncture and moxabustion with a few points in her neck and head, she felt a relief right after the treatment. After two sessions her headaches were gone. She was very happy and said to me:"You saved me again!"
