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Enough about sleep, My head hurts! (Headaches)
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Most people know that chiropractors can treat low back pain. In fact most people that I introduce myself to and tell them what I do tell me their chiropractic story which usually involves low back pain of some sort. What most people don't realize is that we are very successful at treating headaches as well. Conservative chiropractic care to the neck can help resolve most types of headaches. I know it might seem a bit odd that headaches, especially those that originate behind the eyes and in the temporal region can originate in the neck (also known as cervicogenic headaches.) Hang in there with me and I will tell you all about it.
According to MedicineNet, 90% of Americans will suffer from some sort of headache this year. Most of those headaches will be relatively minor or short termed. Headaches can be broken down into several different types. The most common are tension type headaches, migraines, and sinus/allergy headaches. There are many other kinds but let us just focus on the main ones for right now. Most of those 90% number are going to fall into the tension and sinus category. Only about 12% of those that suffer from headaches are unlucky to draw the migraine card. I have seen hundreds of headache sufferers in my office but the ones that are the most grateful for their symptom relief are the migraine patients.
For any of you that have experienced a migraine I don't have to tell you that the symptoms are so intense that they can literally stop you dead in your tracks and bring you to your knees. Migraine headaches are typically classified as intense temporal pain with associated sensitivity to light and sound. Usually they are located on one side of the head but can be both. There are many different triggers and causes for migraines varying from caffeine to red wine to a specific sight or sound. A typical traditional treatment of migraines is limiting these triggers (coffee, chocolate, cheese, etc.) and trying varying pharmaceuticals in an attempt to find the right mixture to give the patients relief. Usually once a successful combination is found the migraine patient lives the rest of their life that way.
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As I mentioned before, I have seen hundreds of headache cases in my offices varying in severity from the typical occasional sinus headache to much, much worse. You may be asking yourself how a chiropractor can help headaches, and I suppose that is a fair question. The upper portion of your neck or cervical spine is the bottom portion of the brain stem. This area is packed with nerves and an irritation in this area can refer pain to many spots in the head. Many headache sufferers note that many of their headaches start right at the base of their skull and progress into the front or side or sometimes into a band around the head. These are common locations for headaches and they can give us clues as to how to treat them.
My greatest success story is that of my wife, and not just because I convinced her to marry me. Shortly before we met my wife had a migraine that lasted for 23 consecutive days. It got so bad that they admitted her to the hospital thinking that she was actually having a stroke. She was taking medications daily to prevent headaches and had both a pill and an injection for whenever she inevitably got a headache to lessen the symptoms. Shortly after we began dating she began receiving chiropractic care for her migraines. After about a year and a half, thanks to regular chiropractic care and bi-monthly therapeutic massages, she is off all of her medications and has not had a migraine in months. I know what you are probably thinking, “She lived with a chiropractor and could get adjusted everyday if needed and I couldn’t afford that level of treatment.” Again as I mentioned before I have seen many migraine cases in my office and they all have responded very well to conservative chiropractic treatment. In fact many of the migraine patients I have in my office I only see them whenever they feel like they are starting to get a headache, they come in for a treatment and feel better whenever they leave.
Since headaches and their treatment are such a large topic let us stop there for the day. Come back and check out the next article where I will talk to you a bit more on the different types of headaches and some things you can do yourself at home to prevent them.
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