Has anyone tried acupuncture for headaches or for anything? So far, it's not working for my headaches.

Have you had other types of PT and a home exercise program?

Dry Needling Adds No Benefit to the Treatment of Neck Pain: A Sham-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial With 1-Year Follow-up https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.9864

Cookiepic, my physical therapist has talked to me about dry needling. The way it works is it releases the electrical charge that is holding the muscles in a spasm knot. Since metal conducts electricity, it dissipates the charge when you stick a needle into the muscle. I don't like needles, so I didn't try it. The other thing that helps which I have done is a Dolphin Neurostimulator which is 2 handheld devices that send an electric current between them. I also am a spine surgery patient, and prior to my cervical fusion, my therapist was using the Dolphin to block pain signals at the nerve roots of my spine. That helped for about a week to reduce pain. Those give some temporary relief, but do not address the structural problem of the spine.

I had spinal cord compression because of a collapsed C5/C6 disc and bone spurs that were pressing into my spinal cord. I had a single level fusion at Mayo without hardware, and I stayed in a neck brace until the fusion process had begun. I had great results from my surgery and I'm doing well now at 5 years post op. The spine can start to fuse itself if the discs collapse completely which may become inoperable if that happens. A spine specialist would have to answer that question. Bone remodels because of pressure which is why bone spurs form and they can start to fuse the adjacent vertebrae and compress the spaces between vertebrae where the nerve roots exit.

Sometimes physical therapy is tried as a prerequisite to surgery. Are you considering a surgical procedure for your spinal disc issues? If you have questions, I can answer about my experience with spine surgery.

I was misdiagnosed with migraine for more than 20 years. Finally was correctly diagnosed with cervicogenic headache. Triptans and other meds Rx'd for migraine never helped me. Do you feel the diagnosis of migraine is accurate?

Nerves that are already causing inflammation in surrounding tissues become further inflamed with stretching. Moving the muscles that support the neck, like the trapezius, relaxes the neck steuctures.

I agree we must keep moving! I do overhead pulldowns with an exercise band over the door frame, then put it about wast high and pull straight back with the band. Then with an easier band I place above the door handle I do “Y-T-I”s - arms up and out in a “Y” shape, up to center and back to the sides, arms out to the side shoulder height and back, then pull down and straight back for the “I”. I do 3 sets of 10 of each all b with lower back and core-strengthening exercises on the floor.

Then the PT has me doing a 1-minute stretch ear towards Right shoulder only til you feel a stretch (hard for me to go very far) and then turn head to side and look at armpit for 1 minute.

Oh I have definitely found a range of expertise in massage therapists and physical therapists.

I have only gone to 1 acupuncturist but I am very impressed with her skills. She spends time asking me about what is going on with my body each time before she starts and asks later what worked and how I felt later in the day. She studied massage therapy and worked at that to get through the Oriental and Asian Medical school which took 9 years. She said having the knowledge of the body from massage therapy training definitely helped her in her further studies to learn acupuncture.

As for massage therapists, I have again hit the jackpot in finding Michael, who started at a Massage Envy I had joined. I couldn’t believe how skilled he was and his knowledge of the body is amazing. He used to work on the Dallas Cowboys. He also asks what’s going on when I arrive, what I want him to concentrate on, he is trained in myofacial release and all sorts of other types of massage. He started his own business recently.

Both the acupuncturist and my massage therapist are located within a 5 minute drive of my house. Wow, lucky me.

Chiropractor gave up too. PT didn't help. I had 4 blood/glue patches in my spine to seal up small holes. That didn't work either.

Mostly stretching my neck and me doing neck exercises. I have a herniation, arthritis and a bone spur in my neck.

Did nothing for me.