HEADACHES AND MIGRAINE
HEADACHES AND MIGRAINE
Headaches and Migraine cause many working days each year, they can affect both your working efficiency and your lifestyle, they can also prevent you from having a normal lifestyle, participating in sports and make you feel down and depressed.
HEADACHES
Fortunately scientific studies have shown that chiropractic treatment can be very effective in reducing the symptoms of headaches and migraine and can be as effective, if not more effective, than preventative medications in reducing headaches and helping to keep off the onset of migraines.
Headaches caused by muscle and joint tightness can be helped by Chiropractic treatment to the upper back and neck area. Migraine research has shown that spinal adjustments can reduce migraine symptoms. At our clinic we regularly treats headache and Migraine sufferers, in fact a large number of patients that visit with neck problems tend to have accompanying headaches. Each week thousands of people with headaches are successfully treated by chiropractors throughout the world.
In 2009 The General Chiropractic Council commissioned the Brontfort report, this report reviewed the scientific evidence for various types of Chiropractic treatment.
The impressive results from a series of randomised clinical trials showed that 4 types of Chronic headache (including Migraine headache) were shown to be helped by Chiropractic treatment. These are excellent results. If you have headaches or Migraine we would recommend that you visit a Chiropractor.
TENSION
Tension headaches are very common, affecting up to 70-80% of people. The tension headache, also known as the cerviogenic headache is the most common type of headache. A tension headache is often characterised by a dull, nagging pain that seems to last for a long time. With this type of headache, the pain often starts in your upper back and neck radiating into the back of your head and moves forward, so that it eventually includes your neck, scalp, and head, often finishing behind the eyes.
It’s often described as feeling like you have a tight band across your head. Pain tends to increase with long periods of working under stress. The tension headache is thought to have various causes but one of the most common is our modern, often hectic and stressful lifestyles.
Headaches may be caused by sitting for too long in the same position, such as in reading or using a computer, sitting in a position with your head forwards may cause the muscles at the base of the skull at the top of your neck also known as the sub-occipital muscles, to be overworked and fatigued making them go into spasm. If this condition occurs for too long, painful hypertonic trigger points develop and the tension headache occurs.
Treatment that reduces the tension in the upper back and neck thereby reducing the tension in the scalp reduces the symptoms of tension headache.
TREATMENT
Chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy is a proven method for individuals seeking an alternative to taking prescribed medication for migraine treatment. Once a migraine has begun, chiropractic therapy, can also greatly reduce the painful symptoms if care is given in a timely manner.
With this type of complaint our immediate aim is to reduce the tension in the back, neck and scalp. Soft tissue therapy and fascial release will be used to reduce the tightness of the muscles and fascia around the neck, upper back and scalp. Spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustments) will be used to restore normal spinal biomechanics in these areas and reduce symptoms.
You will also initially be given mobility exercises for your upper back, then we will begin developing the bodies core muscles to help to stabilise and strengthen the spine and improve your posture and neck carriage.
These clinic images show some different aspects of treatment we provide for Headaches and Migraine.
