By now, just about everyone has heard of chiropractic care.
Chiropractic care is widely known for its effectiveness in treating back and neck pain.
The care includes a combination of spinal manipulation, active and passive exercises, massage, and many more techniques that are tailored to fit the needs of each patient.
While chiropractic care is an ideal treatment if you are suffering from back or neck pain, it can also treat many other conditions.
These are the 6 tell-tale signs you need to see a chiropractor ASAP.
Another ailment it's effective in treating is headaches.
Guidelines for the use of chiropractic care for headaches have emerged, with a number of research studies concluding or currently underway.
There are many types of headaches, and the treatment you receive will depend on the type of headaches you have.
In the article below, we will examine several types of headaches and how chiropractic care can help treat them.
Table Of Contents
- How Common Are Headaches
- Tension Headaches
- Migraine Headaches
- Cervicogenic Headaches
- Find Relief From Your Headaches
How Common Are Headaches
Headaches are extremely common. Just about everyone in the world has experienced a headache at some point in their life.
One in twenty adults has a headache every day.
When they occur repeatedly, they are a symptom of a headache disorder. The most common headache disorder is tension headaches.
Tension headaches affect over one-third of men and over half of all women.
Migraines are also a common type of headache that affects 1 in every 7 adults in the world.
It's up to 3x more common in women than men, and mostly affects people between 35 and 45 years old, but can affect children as well.
Headache disorders can be extremely painful and even disabling, causing personal suffering, impaired quality of life, and high financial cost.
Luckily, chiropractic care is being proven beneficial to those that suffer from headaches.
We'll take a look at how now.
Tension Headaches
Episodic tension headaches are widespread, typically resulting from muscle tension due to prolonged tension in the neck, shoulders, or head, and they generally improve with over-the-counter pain medications.
Spinal manipulations are only somewhat useful in treating headaches. However, chronic tension headaches can improve with modified chiropractic therapy.
The chiropractic options for tension headaches are low-load craniocervical mobilization, which involves a gentler force than that used in spinal manipulation.
For the treatment of headaches, the force is applied to the joints of the neck, allowing for rhythmic movement of the cervical segments.
Stretching is also included in therapy.
Migraine Headaches
Migraine headaches come with other symptoms like dizziness, nausea, and sensitivity to light.
There are effective medications that can be used for migraine prevention or for acute migraine episodes.
Pain injections have also been successful.
However, if you're looking for a more natural approach to your treatment, chiropractic care is for you.
There are a variety of types of chiropractic therapies that have been found useful in treating migraines.
Neuromuscular massage is a massage focused on trigger points within the back, shoulder, neck, and head that ease symptoms of migraine headaches.
A multidisciplinary approach has also been found effective at easing the symptoms of migraines.
Combining physical therapy exercises, relaxation techniques, stress management, and dietary counseling, all planned by your chiropractor, is very useful in reducing migraine pain, frequency, duration, and disability.
Cervicogenic Headaches
Cervicogenic is another type of headache that usually begin with one-sided pain that starts at the back of the head and then moves to the front, often with accompanying same-side shoulder or arm pain.
Cervicogenic headaches are believed to be the result of an underlying neck problem and can be triggered by an injury. They are among the least common headache types and often don't improve with medication.
This is a type of headache where spinal manipulation is recommended.
To perform spinal manipulation, your chiropractor will use their hands or other instruments to apply a controlled force to a specific joint of your spine.
They are usually accompanied by a pop when the force is applied. The cervical spine (the part of your spine in the neck) is the region of focus when spinal manipulation is used for treating cervicogenic headaches.
Joint mobilization, a therapy where your joints are passively moved to improve movement or reduce pain, can be used to target the cervical spine to treat cervicogenic headaches.
Deep neck flexion exercises are also useful for these headaches. These exercises involve actively moving your muscles and joints under the guidance of a healthcare professional.
Find Relief From Your Headaches
If you suffer from any type of headache, chiropractic care can be very beneficial to you.
During your first visit, your chiropractor will complete a physical exam and get your medical history so they can design a treatment program to meet your specific needs.
If you don't have a chiropractor, Advanced Injury Care can get you setup with a chiropractor that can help you manage your headaches.
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