text: Always use Du 20 Bai Hui for all the different types of headaches. This is based on my personal experience over 20 years of practice.
  You should be very specific when describing the tender points on your head because each tender-point location belongs to a different meridian, and treatment varies based on each location.
  Lisa L. is an 18-year-old female, who had been complaining of neck pain for the past six years. The patient reports that, six years ago, when she woke up, she suddenly realized that her neck jerked to the left. The jerk happened very often; her neck would jerk two or three times every 5-10 minutes. The jerk was involuntary and occurred more frequently especially when she was tired or under stress. However, if she had a good night’s rest, felt energized, and focused on something (e.g. her favorite sports), she would not experience the sudden, involuntary neck movements. Only when she sat still, did her neck start to jerk.
  Lisa’s neck muscle always feels very tight, and the tightness can be very painful. She has been to many doctors and has tried everything, such as physical therapy and multiple medications, without any improvement. She therefore came to me for evaluation and treatment. Upon physical examination, I noted that the left side of the patient’s sternocleidomastoid muscle had hypertrophied. It felt like a thick rope on the left side of her neck. I also noted that other muscles had undergone hypertrophy: the levator scapular and splenius capitis at the cervicals. Throughout the entire physical examination, there was no jerk or involuntary contraction on the left side of the patient’s neck.
  What Lisa is suffering from is called cervical dystonia, which is the most common form of focal dystonia. Cervical dystonia is characterized by abnormal and spasmodic squeezing of the muscle that leads to muscle contractions in the head and neck area. The movements are involuntary and are sometimes very painful, causing the neck to twist repetitively, resulting in abnormal posture. Overall, this may affect a single muscle, a group of muscles, such as those in the arms, neck, and legs, or even the entire body. Patients with dystonia often have normal intelligence and no associated psychiatric disorders.