Headaches

If you suffer from headaches, you may think you’ve tried every available method of relief with no success. Surprisingly, chiropractic care might be an option worth investigating. The majority of headaches people experience are tension related. We see patients with neck and upper back pain all the time. There’s even a condition called text neck, where our forward-slumped posture is contributing to muscle imbalances. All of these issues are tied together—the treatment of muscle tension with chiropractic care may be an effective way to combat headaches.

What Can Cause Headaches?

1. Tension-Type Headaches – These are also known as cervogenic headaches. These are the most common type of headaches caused by mainly by the trigger points in the back of the neck and radiate to the forehead and temples. These headaches may last from half an hour to several days. Common triggers include stress, anxiety, shoulder and neck muscle stiffness, or sleep deprivation. The biggest cause of chronic cervogenic headaches is posture.

2. Migraines -Another common headache that effects many people is a migraine. These are due to vascular changes and other brain dysfunctions.Migraine headaches may last from 30 minutes to several days, causing throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head, dizziness, nausea, and fatigue, along with light, noise, or smell sensitivity. Often preceded by visual disturbances, such as halos, flashing lights, zigzag lines, or blind spots. Triggers include environmental or weather changes, stress, and lack of sleep.

3. Cluster Headaches – These are very painful short intense headaches lasting 15 mins to 3 hours. These are one sided and are often accompanied by a red or teary eye, runny or stuffy nostril, and flushing or sweating of the face. Common triggers include alcohol, cigarettes, high altitudes, and certain foods.

4. Sinus Headaches – These are deep and constant headaches that result from inflamed or infected sinuses. Sinus headaches may be accompanied by symptoms like sinus pressure, nasal discharge, watery eyes, ear fullness, fever, and facial swelling. These are often confused with cervogenic headaches due to the location of the headaches. The biggest difference is nasal involvement.

5. Exertion Headaches – These headaches start immediately after intense physical exertion like exercises or lifting. These can be caused by blood pressure or muscle spasms.

6. Hormonal Headaches – These throbbing headaches start on one side of the head and include light sensitivity and nausea. Hormonal headaches are due to hormonal fluctuations during menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, and hormonal contraceptive use.

7. Medication Headaches – these chronic headaches are caused by overusing certain medications. Overusing any pain reliever for more than 15 days a month — or taking triptans for more than 10 days a month — can increase your risk for rebound headaches. 

8. Post Traumatic Headaches – Theses are headaches that happen within 7 days after an injury. Concussions can frequently cause headache due to the brain trauma. This could also be due to neck damage. In severe cases there can be brain bleeds as well that need immediate medical attention. Warning signs include dizziness, fatigue, decreased concentration, memory problems, insomnia, anxiety, irritability, or a personality change.

9. Hypertension headaches – Theses are related to higher blood pressure. These headaches occur when your blood pressure becomes dangerously high — over 180/110. Hypertension headaches feel like pulsations on both sides of your head and can be accompanied by vision changes, chest pain, shortness of breath, or nosebleeds. Hypertension headaches are treated by lowering blood pressure.

10. Other types -Tumors, infections,substance abuse or withdraw, facial headaches (trigeminal neuralgia) and after spinal taps.

 

What Can You Do About Headaches?

The first thing you need to do is get a proper diagnosis of your headaches. There are many things you can do at home for headaches but if there is something deeper going on that waiting for care may be harmful to your health. Chiropractors are one of the best sources to seek initial care for headaches. They have had years of training and experience to rule out any serious pathologies and have the knowledge on how to direct your care. Any good chiropractor will also include some kind of home care. Our philosophy has always to empower our patients to manage their own musculoskeletal complaints. Here are a few things you can do to help manage your complaints

  1. Seek help -By seeking the help of a professional with the knowledge and experience to diagnosis and explain the source of your pain and than direct you on how to manage your pain.
  2. Learn stretch and release techniques – The easiest and quickest way to start managing your own pain is learning which muscles to stretch and more importantly how. Couple this with self myofacial release and you can really make a difference.
  3. Strengthen the neck – There is a high correlation between weakness in the deep neck flexors and neck pain and headaches. Additionally, muscles such as the lower trap are typically weak and inhibited in posture syndromes.
  4. Sleep right – Getting the right pillow is imperative with neck pain and headaches. This can depend on how you sleep. Side sleepers need a pillow high enough so your neck lays in line with the rest of your spine. Back sleepers need a shorter pillow and supports your neck curve. Stomach sleeping typically causes neck pain and using a body pillow helps keep your neck from completely turning to the side.
  5. Get Adjusted- Tension type headaches are the most common type of headaches. These are what we see in our office most of the time. Chronic tension headaches are generally caused by posture syndromes. We treat posture by mobilizing the spinal joints, stretch and release the tight muscles and strengthen and activate weaker muscles. Many acute cervogenic headaches respond very quickly to a single adjustment. This is due to acute misalignment of the spine and acute muscle spasms. Migraines can respond to chiropractic care as well. Migraines are  thought to be due to neurovascular changes.  When nerves are irritated by spinal misalignments, nerves can over react and cause the vasoconstricion