This picture sounds all too familiar: Mom is upstairs because she has a migraine headache. Her door is closed, the lights are off and we must be “really quiet.” Hopefully the shot (Immetrex) worked and she’ll be “all better” in the morning. I also here many of my new patients say, “I just get a couple of ‘normal’ headaches a week.”
No headache is “normal;” rather it is a symptom of some underlying problem. Occasionally, this problem is easy to trace, such as bad posture habits or allergies. However, headaches are usually a warning sign of a more serious health condition. Each day, 5-10 million adults in the United States use an over-the-counter medication in hopes that it will cure their headache. Some get temporary relief…some do not. While pain killers like Tylenol can cover up symptoms by blocking the pain, but they don’t tackle the real problem. If you have tried to “cure” your headaches with painkillers, you know how fruitless that approach is in the long run. The headaches keep coming back, and drugs alleviate the pain, for now, without doing anything to correct the underlying problem. Any pain, including headaches, is your body’s way of warning you that something needs immediate attention.
A Chiropractor will examine your spine and nervous system and ask questions to find out the cause of your headache. There are over 200 different types of headaches. Stress headaches are most common in ages 30-39 with 47% of females suffering from these. By finding out why you are getting headaches, your chiropractor can help correct or eliminate the causes.
Have you ever had just one of those days? Where your neck was so tight it was difficult to move, and you could not turn your head and look to back out the car? These dull steady headaches from tight muscles in the neck, back and head are usually the result of stress. These steady muscle contractions use up oxygen and irritate the muscles causing pain. Most types of headaches, including migraine, respond very well to chiropractic care. A research study revealed in the Chiropractic Journal that 74.6% of patients with recurring headaches, including migraines, were either cured or experienced reduced headache symptoms after receiving chiropractic adjustments. The reason is simple: the chiropractor locates and, if possible, corrects the cause of the headache.
What causes headaches? Most headaches result from spinal subluxations, in other words, misaligned vertebrate. These spinal misalignments cause irritation of the delicate nerves and arteries that supply the head and face area, causing pain. Subluxations are caused from traumas (auto accidents; slips and falls); stress (family, work or emotional); Technology (Hours of phone and computer use) or chemicals (alcohol, smoking and NutraSweet). The chiropractor’s “adjustment” aligns the spinal vertebra and keeps the body free of nerve interference or pressure and allows normal flow. This allows the body to use its own inherent healing ability to maintain an optimum state of health. If you have any questions about how our team and Sheppard Chiropractic can help you, please schedule a consultation.