Headaches and Migraines
Headache and migraine treatment in The Villages, FL to make them come less often.
Medication treats the headache you have. The goal here is different: fewer headaches, less severe, so you stop planning around them. Acupuncture has some of its strongest evidence in exactly this.
Treated by Dr. Christopher Cheshire, MS, AP, LAc, DOM, NCCAOM board certified, 22 years in The Villages. Medical oversight by Dr. Thomas Phipps, MD. Meet the providers
In short: Headache and migraine treatment in The Villages FL. Acupuncture and cupping to reduce how often headaches come, not just treat them. Call 352-430-2720. Medication treats the headache you have. The goal here is different: fewer headaches, less severe, so you stop planning around them.
What Is Going On
Prevention, not just rescue.
Tension type headaches and migraines are different mechanisms with a shared feature: a nervous system that has become too easy to trigger. Tension headaches are strongly driven by the deep neck and upper shoulder muscles referring pain into the head. Migraines involve a broader neurological cascade, but the neck often participates in those too.
Rescue medication interrupts an attack in progress and does nothing about the threshold that lets the next one start. That is the piece we work on, and it is why the measure of success here is frequency and severity over weeks, not what happens in the next hour.
The neck is usually part of the story. Restricted rotation, tender points at the base of the skull, and pain that starts in the shoulders and climbs are all common in frequent headache sufferers, and all treatable.
How We Treat It
Four tools, matched to your case.
These are the therapies we use for headaches. Which ones you get, and in what combination, is decided at your exam.
Acupuncture
The core of headache treatment here, and the therapy with the strongest research record for reducing how often both migraines and tension headaches occur. Needling works the neck and shoulder tissue involved and the nervous system regulation behind the threshold. How acupuncture works.
Cupping therapy
Cupping decompresses the upper back and shoulder fascia that keeps the neck loaded, which is often where tension headaches begin. How cupping works.
Acupuncture injections
Injectables placed at specific points around the neck and upper shoulders, used when that tissue needs more than needling alone provides. How injection therapy works.
Laser therapy
Low level laser reduces inflammation in the neck tissue involved, without mechanical stress, for patients whose neck is too sensitive for firmer work. How laser works.
What To Expect
A typical plan.
We work out what kind of headaches you have
Migraine, tension type, cervicogenic, and medication overuse headaches respond differently. We go through your pattern, triggers, and history in detail before treating.
We treat the neck and the threshold
The plan works the tissue referring pain into your head and the nervous system regulation that decides how easily an attack starts.
We track frequency, not just intensity
Headache treatment is judged over weeks. We ask you to note how many days a month you get one and how severe, because that is the real measure.
We check progress honestly
If your headache days are not dropping over a reasonable course of care, we say so and either change the plan or refer you to neurology.
Is This You
A strong fit for this care.
This approach tends to work best when:
- You get headaches several days a month or more.
- Rescue medication works but you are taking it often.
- Your neck and shoulders are chronically tight, or your headaches start there.
- You want fewer headaches rather than a better way to treat each one.
- You have been told to just live with them.
When it is an emergency. A sudden severe headache unlike any you have had, a headache with fever and a stiff neck, one following a head injury, or one with weakness, slurred speech, or vision loss needs emergency care immediately. New headaches after age 50, or a clear change in your usual pattern, need medical evaluation first. We screen for all of these.
Cost, Insurance and Visits
Headache and Migraine Treatment cost and insurance in The Villages.
What sets the cost
Headaches are treated with acupuncture and, for frequent cases, point injections into the neck trigger points. Acupuncture may be covered; injections are priced per visit.
Insurance
It depends on the therapy. Acupuncture visits are covered by many insurance plans and we check yours before the first appointment. Shockwave, laser, injections, peptides and NAD+ are self pay, and you will know the price of each before you agree to it.
How many visits
A series of weekly visits for a month, then spacing out as frequency drops. We track headache days so the plan is judged on numbers.
Your first 20 minute consultation is free, and no referral is needed. Call 352-430-2720. Insurance and payment details.
Common Questions
Headaches and Migraines, answered.
The Tools We Use
Related services.
Further reading: MedlinePlus: headache ยท NIH NCCIH: headaches in depth.
In The Treatment Room
Working the neck to change the headache.
Headache treatment here mostly happens at the neck, the base of the skull, and the upper shoulders, a few sites per visit, across a course of weekly visits while we track your headache days.
Patient Reviews
What patients say on Google.
Dr. Cheshire is rated 4.6 of 5 on Healthgrades from 11 patient ratings as of October 2026 (Healthgrades profile). The quotes above are from Google.
Clinical Review
Reviewed by our clinical team
Written and clinically reviewed by Dr. Christopher Cheshire, MS, AP, LAc, DOM (NCCAOM board certified). Last reviewed September 2026. Content updated November 3, 2026.
- Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, et al. Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016;(6):CD001218.
- Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, et al. Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016;(4):CD007587.
These references describe the general body of research behind the approaches we use. They are not claims about your individual outcome, and they are not a substitute for an evaluation.
Where We Treat
Headache and migraine treatment in The Villages, Florida.
Our clinic is at 910 Old Camp Road, Suite 162, on the ground floor with step-free access and free parking at the door. Most patients drive in from The Villages and the surrounding Lake, Sumter, and Marion county communities.
Address910 Old Camp Road, Suite 162
The Villages, FL 32162
Phone352-430-2720
HoursMonday to Thursday, 7 AM to 3 PM
Friday, 7 AM to 12 PM
Getting hereGround floor, step-free entry. Look for the ACUPUNCTURE sign on the porch. Directions
Communities We See Patients From
Start Here
Fewer headache days.
Schedule a free 20 minute consultation and we will tell you what kind of headaches you have, whether our approach fits them, and whether we can help at all.