Headache Relief With Chiropractic Care

Before looking for a headache remedy, one should understand the origin of the headache. Chiropractic spinal manipulations have shown to decrease the severity and frequency of headaches, because they usually are due to a misaligned spine. Poor posture or injury can force your vertebrae out of place and pressure the nerves. These nerves can send painful signals to the muscles surrounding the neck and cause a headache. The spinal manipulations straighten your spine and relax the muscles.

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There are several types of headaches; including tension, migraine and cervicogenic. Most people experience the tension headache, which includes moderate pain on both sides of the head. It is often described as a pressure that is squeezing your head causing the pain. Migraines are more severe and are usually described as a throbbing pain. Sometimes a migraine can cause nausea, loss of appetite, and in some cases vision difficulties. If you get migraine headaches regularly, keep a record of the foods you eat. You might notice that your headaches are caused by specific foods. The cervicogenic headache is related to the spine and causes most tension type headaches.

While there are many types of headaches with varying causes, the most common type is the “Muscular Tension Headache.” Tension headaches generally result from prolonged contraction of the suboccipital muscles. These muscles bridge the junction between the posterior (back) of the skull and the vertebrae (bones) of the cervical spine (neck). Several mechanisms seem to be involved in the causation of the common headache:

• Muscle inflammation and “trigger points.”
• Joint irritation and nerve compression.
• Dural traction on the spinal cord and brainstem.
• Muscle Inflammation and Trigger Points

Today more than ever people are inclined to sit for hours with contracted postural muscles but without substantial physical activity. When muscles contract they burn fuel and produce waste. Among the waste products of muscle contraction are lactic acid, histamine and bradykinins. These waste products are irritants. If they are not efficiently removed from the muscle they can cause muscular inflammation, pain and accumulate into localized tender areas known as “trigger points.”

These waste products should normally be diluted and removed from the muscle tissue by the circulation. This process relies on the normal “contract – relax” cycle in the muscle. When the muscle contracts it creates a high pressure on the fluids inside the muscle and pushes the blood out carrying away muscular waste products. When the muscle relaxes the pressure falls and blood floods back in carrying vital nutrients and fuel.

When we sit or stand we are using the many back and neck muscles required to support our body. When these muscles are held contracted for a prolonged time (hours spent sitting or standing), they are producing irritative wastes, but not relaxing and draining themselves of these irritants. Over time these irritants can cause the muscles to lose their natural suppleness and resting length becoming stiffened and shortened. These stiffened and shortened muscles, often accompanied by trigger points can cause reflex pain into the neck and head.

For advice from a chiropractor, Longview‘s Dr Petty can treat this condition, please click to request a Free Chiropractic Exam.

Joint Irritation and Nerve Compression

The vertebrae of the spine fit together on moving joints that provide strength to the structure of the spine and maintain the vertebrae in proper working alignment with one another. The joints of the spine in the neck are richly innervated (supplied) with nerve fibers that can cause pain in the head and neck if the joints are physically strained or injured.

Once the above process has produced stiffness and shortening of the muscles in the neck the joints of the spine are no longer properly stabilized or supported. The affected joints of the spine often become subluxated (misaligned). This causes strain and injury to the joints and supporting ligament tissue. The result of the combined subluxation, ligament strain and joint injury is often neck pain with associated headache.

Dural Traction on the Spinal Cord and Brainstem

The brain and spinal cord are enclosed within a protective covering known as the “meninges.” The tough outer layer of the meninges is known as the “dura matter.” If this covering becomes inflamed you can experience severe headache, neck pain and mental affects. The diagnosis of “meningitis” refers to an inflammation of the meninges.

In 1996 a team of investigators at the University of Maryland were dissecting the region of the spine at the base of the skull in a manner atypical to the standard dissection technique for the neck. They took this atypical approach because they were in fact not interested in the neck structures but were intending to study the muscles of the jaw. What they found was a hitherto undiscovered anatomical structure that connects the dura covering the spine at the level of the brainstem to a neck muscle that bridges between the skull and the spine. It is now realized that this structure has the potential to exert a tractioning pull on the dura resulting in neck pain and headache.

Their findings were reported in the “1998 Medical and Health Annual” printed by the Encyclopedia Brittannica. This publication states: “Spinal manipulation as a treatment for tension headache is predicated upon the assumption that dysfunction in the neck muscles contributes to (the) head pain: in the U.S. 90% of such procedures are performed by chiropractors. The muscle-dura connection may represent, at least in part, the underlying anatomic basis for the effectiveness of this treatment. Such treatment, as performed by a chiropractor, would decrease muscle tension and thereby reduce or eliminate pain by reducing the potential forces exerted on the dura via the muscle-dura connection.”

Looking for a Headache Remedy in Longview?

Chiropractors do not prescribe medications or recommend surgery (rarely a treatment for headaches), but instead have had success relieving the pain associated with headaches. Taking aspirin every day as a headache remedy can lead to increased doses and even more severe headaches in the long run. The medicine taken for today’s headache may give you one tomorrow or the days after. Chiropractic has been extremely successful in dealing with cervicogenic headaches. A chiropractor’s ability to adjust spinal abnormalities lessens the forces contributing to headache pain. Other manual techniques such as massage and heat therapy can be a useful headache remedy.

Spinal manipulations have shown to decrease the severity and frequency of headaches, because they usually are due to a misaligned spine. Poor posture or injury can force your vertebrae out of place and pressure the nerves.

For advice on how Longview chiropractor, Dr Petty can treat this condition, please click to request a Free Chiropractic Exam.

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