Prevent Headaches with Chiropractic Care
I decided to specialize in headache and migraine care due to personal experience with headaches following a car accident. There is no simple answer to help decrease the frequency and severity of headaches, which is why I take a holistic approach to treating my patient’s headaches. Please read this informative article and decide if chiropractic care may be for you.
Tension Headaches
Do you ever experience headaches? There are many different causes for headaches to occur and determining the cause can be the key to finding the cures. The most common type of headache occurs as a tight band type pain due to the muscles contracting around the skull, known as tension headaches. They tend to last for shorter periods at moderate levels, whereas migraine headaches are moderate pain to high and can last for hours. Chiropractic care can be very effective in treating tension headaches. In addition, I prescribe Relax Already, a natural muscle relaxant, as well as various other techniques including meditation, exercise etc. In other words, as mentioned above, a holistic approach is needed.
Cervicogenic Headaches
Cervicogenic headaches are another type of headache that can occur, where the pain originates from a dysfunction in the neck pain. The neck joints in your body are causing pain that radiates into your head which is felt as a headache. If your joints are stiff, weak, or misaligned they need extra support from the muscles that work to support these joints. These muscles are extremely overworked if they are protecting injured joints. The good news is that if you fix those joints with chiropractic care and exercise you will ease the strain on the muscles, and you can alleviate those type of headaches from your life.
What types of symptoms are you experiencing? Headache origins can be difficult to diagnose and therefore treat. A cervicogenic headache will usually occur on one side of the head and will also be accompanied by a stiff neck. There may also be nausea and vomiting, but not to the extent of traditional migraine headache.
How do you positively diagnose a cervicogenic headache over a traditional migraine? As a chiropractor, we are trained to palpate (feel) the neck joints and determine if they are moving properly, or fixated (not moving properly). Generally, you will feel some pain over a joint that we find to be not working properly. This is usually an area that needs to be adjusted.
You may also obtain an MRI if we feel the pain is due to a disc problem or other pathology in your neck.
Once we are sure of the neck pain being the cause of your headaches, we will begin chiropractic treatment to help with the neck alignments and stiffness in joints. Chiropractors can be the answer to the pain that you are feeling. We will ask you a few questions when you begin your first consultation.
- How long have you been feeling this neck pain?
- What do you do to alleviate the pain?
- Does the pain radiate to other parts of the body?
At our office, we will perform a physical and neurological exam and determine your range of motion, posture, and physical condition. We will then assess your spine by feeling it and looking for the proper movement and curvature. We may also order an X-ray, MRI, or CT scans to check for bulging discs, herniations, bone spurs, fractures, and arthritis.
Taking the time to set up a consultation with a chiropractor in our Bristol CT office can be the best appointment you make all year. The knowledge and expertise that chiropractors have can be the answer to your cervicogenic headaches. Call today because all you have to lose are the headaches.
Please note: Although this article dealt with mostly cervicogenic and tension headaches, we can help decrease the frequency and severity of migraines too. Read this migraine article.
Call my office today at 860-583-4346 or complete our online form for an appointment by clicking here.
Dr David M. Spitz is the founder and clinic director of the Chiropractic Health Center of Bristol, located in Bristol, CT. Since 1982, he has treated thousands of patients for various conditions ranging from neck and back pain, to migraine headaches. He specializes in treating patients who have suffered whiplash injuries and/or back injuries in a motor vehicle accident.
Dr Spitz was a volunteer EMT-I and a lieutenant for several years at the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department. He has lectured throughout CT on various topics including, chiropractic, stress management, headaches and preventing back injury in the workplace.
