Conventional migraine care is built around a reasonable goal: stop the pain. When a migraine hits, you take something that interrupts the cascade. When migraines happen too often, you add a preventive medication that reduces frequency. For many patients, this is genuinely helpful.
But there is a ceiling to what suppression can do. Once the medication wears off, your body is carrying the same stress, the same tension patterns, the same internal imbalances that triggered the migraine in the first place. So the migraine returns. You adjust the dose. You switch medications. The cycle continues.
Traditional Chinese Medicine asks a different question. Instead of how do we stop this migraine, it asks why does this person keep getting migraines. That shift in framing is what opens the door to real, lasting change.
Chronic migraines are rarely one problem with one solution. In most cases, they are the result of multiple overlapping patterns interacting in ways that aren’t being addressed together: nervous system dysregulation, muscle tension and trigger points, hormonal fluctuations, sleep disruption, inflammation, and blood sugar instability. Meaningful improvement comes from identifying which of these patterns is driving your specific migraine presentation, then treating the cause, not just the output.
Most migraine practitioners work one angle. A neurologist addresses neurological pathways. A chiropractor works the spine. An herbalist supports internal systems. A dry needling practitioner releases muscle tension.
Each of these approaches helps some migraine patients. None of them fully resolves migraines for most patients, because chronic migraines usually involve both an internal driver and a musculoskeletal contributor. Treating one without the other leaves half the problem intact.
Dr. Jon is one of the few practitioners in Florida trained at an advanced level in both layers. He holds a Doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine (DTCM) from Five Branches University and is a Myopain Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist (CMTPT), trained directly under Jan Dommerholt, the clinician who introduced dry needling to the United States. He also serves as an assistant instructor with Myopain Seminars, training other practitioners internationally.
That dual training is what allows a single treatment plan to address both sides of the problem at once.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, your migraines are not identical to anyone else’s. Two patients with the same symptoms can have completely different underlying patterns: one vascular, one hormonal, one rooted in digestion, one in stress and nervous system overload.
Identifying which pattern is driving your migraines is what makes herbal medicine effective or ineffective. A generic “migraine formula” targeting a single mechanism cannot treat a pattern that doesn’t match it. This is why most patients who have tried Chinese herbs casually, whether a bottle from a health food store or a supplement recommended by a friend, don’t see results.
Dr. Jon’s diagnostic process uses traditional tongue and pulse assessment alongside a detailed clinical health history. The assessment takes 10 to 20 minutes and is what narrows the possibilities from five or eight potential formulas down to the one that matches your specific presentation. From there, a custom-compounded herbal formula is prescribed, adjusted monthly as your body responds.
Learn more about how a monthly herbal plan actually works, including what the monthly reevaluation process looks like and why formulas change over the course of treatment.
A significant portion of chronic migraine sufferers have a musculoskeletal component that has never been properly evaluated. Active trigger points in the neck and upper shoulders can refer pain directly into the head, behind the eyes, and across the temples. The most common culprits are the suboccipital muscles at the base of the skull, the temporalis, the upper trapezius, and the sternocleidomastoid.
These trigger points are activated by stress, sustained posture (desk work, phone use, driving), prior injuries, or tension patterns that have built up over years. When they are active, they can either trigger a migraine outright or amplify an existing one.
Dry needling addresses this layer directly by releasing active trigger points and restoring normal function to the surrounding soft tissue. For patients whose migraines have a significant muscular component (which is a substantial number of chronic migraine sufferers), addressing neck tension and trigger points often produces faster and more durable results than internal treatment alone.
Dry needling at Orlando Alternative Health is not a weekend-course technique. It is clinical-grade trigger point therapy performed by a Myopain-certified practitioner with training equivalent to what is used by medical teams working with professional athletes in the NFL, MLB, MLS, and other elite leagues.
Taylor came to our Winter Park clinic at 21 years old, carrying something most people wouldn’t expect to see at her age: years of chronic migraines. Not occasional headaches. Not stress tension that fades by morning. Real migraines, frequent and severe enough to pull her out of class, cancel plans, and leave her wondering whether this was just going to be her life.
She had tried the conventional path. It hadn’t worked.
Within two weeks of starting treatment (two dry needling sessions and a custom herbal formula prescribed based on her specific TCM presentation), Taylor experienced a 50% reduction in both the frequency and intensity of her migraines.
Not a cure. Not a promise. But real, measurable progress, the kind she hadn’t found anywhere else.
Taylor’s results are not unusual when the right pattern has been identified and treated correctly. Results come from precision: accurately diagnosing what’s driving the migraines for a specific patient, then using the right tools in the right combination.
Every migraine patient’s treatment plan is individualized, but most follow a similar structure.
Your first visit is an initial consultation that may include same-day treatment. Dr. Jon takes a comprehensive health history, performs relevant orthopedic testing if musculoskeletal involvement is suspected, and uses TCM tongue and pulse diagnostics to identify the internal pattern behind your migraines. Depending on your presentation and what we find during the assessment, your first visit may also include treatment the same day.
See what to expect at your first visit.
For most migraine patients, the initial phase combines:
Most patients notice meaningful change within the first two to four visits for the musculoskeletal component, and within the first two to four weeks for the internal herbal component. Exact timelines vary based on how long migraines have been present, how they are currently being triggered, and how consistently the treatment plan is followed.
Because herbal medicine works by gradually correcting internal patterns, the herbal component of migraine treatment typically runs for approximately four months. Your formula is reviewed and adjusted each month based on how your body is responding. As internal patterns shift, the formula changes with them. This is not a supplement you take indefinitely. It is a clinical protocol with a clear beginning, middle, and completion point.
Our migraine patients come to us from throughout Central Florida, including Winter Park, Orlando, Maitland, Altamonte Springs, Apopka, and beyond. Most have already tried the conventional path. They come here when they are done settling for partial results.
What sets the clinical approach apart:
Most conventional migraine treatments, whether over-the-counter pain relievers, prescription medications, or even Botox, are designed to interrupt or prevent symptoms once they’re already being triggered. Our approach works differently. We look at why your body keeps producing migraines in the first place, then address both the internal imbalances (through custom herbal formulas) and the physical tension patterns (through dry needling) that keep the cycle going. Many patients who find us have tried multiple medications without lasting relief, and this two-angle approach is often what finally moves the needle.
Most patients notice changes within the first 2 to 4 weeks of beginning treatment, often a reduction in migraine intensity or frequency, and sometimes improved sleep or energy that signals the body is responding.
Meaningful, lasting improvement typically takes 2 to 3 months as the herbal formulas rebalance internal systems and your response to treatment builds.
Chronic migraines didn’t develop overnight, and sustainable results come from giving your body time to actually heal rather than just masking symptoms.
Dry needling uses very thin filiform needles, much smaller than the hypodermic needles used for injections or blood draws. Most patients feel a small pinch on insertion followed by a deep ache or brief twitch when the needle reaches a trigger point. This is usually described as uncomfortable rather than painful, and the sensation passes quickly. Many patients find the release that follows a trigger point treatment deeply relieving, especially in chronically tight areas like the upper neck, jaw, and shoulders.
We take medication interactions seriously. During your initial consultation, Dr. Jon reviews your full medication list and medical history before formulating any herbal plan. The herbs we prescribe are professional-grade, third-party tested, and used in combinations that have been refined for centuries.
If you’re on blood thinners, strong psychiatric, immunosuppressants, or other medications with known interaction concerns, we adjust the formula accordingly, or in rare cases, recommend coordinating with your prescribing physician before starting.
During the initial treatment phase, most patients come in once a week for 4 to 6 weeks to build momentum. From there, visits taper based on your response.
Many patients shift to every two weeks, then monthly, and eventually only return for occasional tune-ups. The ongoing herbal care continues through monthly refills, which can typically be handled without an in-office visit once your formula is dialed in. The goal is always to get you to a maintenance rhythm that fits your life.
We work with patients experiencing a wide range of migraine patterns: chronic daily migraines, episodic migraines, migraines with aura, menstrual migraines, tension-related migraines, and migraines that developed after injury or prolonged stress.
The common thread is that our approach addresses both the internal drivers and the physical triggers, which is why it tends to help patients whose migraines haven’t responded well to single-angle treatments.