Headaches: How Can I Get Rid of Them
Once and For All?
Has your headache ever been so bad that you just had to stop what you were
doing because of the pain? Everyday hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer
from severe headaches that interfere with routine work and social activities
resulting in increased lost work days each year.
Did you know that headaches occur more often then the common cold? Because they are so “common”, many people just accept headaches as a “normal” part of life. Quite the contrary – if you have a headache, it means that something is not normal! Pain is a signal that you have a problem that needs attention. Most often, people will take a prescribed medication to deal with the pain of a headache. These medications are commonly analgesics or sedatives. Many contain caffeine. The irony is that many of these medications themselves can lead to headaches!
If you suffer from headaches and you’d like to discover the natural approach to eliminating headaches, then you need to know how chiropractic can help you.
There are nearly 100 different kinds of headaches but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll talk about the two main groups: migraine and tension. These two types make up about 80-90% of all headaches.
Migraine Headaches
Headaches involving the swelling of blood vessels are called “migraines”. This type of headache is usually one-sided, with associated throbbing pain. Classic migraines are often preceded by an aura of bright light, nausea, or vomiting, and in some cases, extreme sensitivity to light and sound. The pain is often quite severe. Your brain itself isn’t “hurting” because the brain has no nerves for experiencing pain. However, the arteries in your brain do have nerves that detect pain. If they are inflamed or irritated, the arteries transmit pain signals. Every time our heart pumps, it sends blood pulsating through the arteries that stretch the artery walls. With each “stretch” you feel the throbbing pain!Tension Headaches
People with tension headaches often experience “band-like” pressure around the head. Tenderness, tightness and stiffness in the muscles behind the head and neck are also common. Spinal misalignment (known as vertebral subluxation) can cause muscle tension around the neck that often leads to tension headaches. The joints of the cervical spine can radiate pain into the head. The source of pain from tension headaches comes from constricting muscles or spasms in the neck and shoulders. Muscle contractions in these areas can irritate, compress, pull, or stretch the nerve endings in the neck and head.Current research has shown that migraine and tension headaches can be related to a misalignment (subluxation) of one or more vertebrae in the neck. Since the nerves and blood vessels pass through small openings between the vertebrae, even a slight misalignment can compress the nerve. Vertebral subluxations can irritate the spinal nerves or joints that may cause many types of headaches and other pain.
Doctors of Chiropractic receive specialized training in managing problems of the nerves, muscles and joints. Chiropractic care helps to reduce muscle tension, realign the vertebrae, and remove nerve irritation along the spinal column. Removing the pressure from these structures can often bring immediate relief from your headache pain!