Every week, I see more patients who complain of feeling stressed and overwhelmed. This, combined with a more sedentary lifestyle, means that most of my patients complain of headaches. According to the latest research, 90% of headaches can be classified as “tension headaches”. More than 95 percent of these headaches are “primary” headaches such as migraine clusters.
Causes
Some headaches can be caused by environmental allergies or food, but most headaches are caused by the way people work or live. What should you do if you have a headache? If you’re like most people you will turn to your medicine cupboard to ease the pain. However, this is only temporary relief. Some medical experts believe that painkillers used more than once per week can cause headaches to return, making it difficult to get relief. If you take any painkiller from your medicine cabinet, it can cause rebound headaches.
Rebound Headaches
These can be caused by over-the-counter painkillers that contain aspirin. Combining these painkillers and caffeine can make it worse. If you don’t address the root cause of the problem, headaches can reoccur and interfere with your daily life. There is an effective solution, and it’s not in your medicine cupboard. Most patients I see have headaches due to muscle tension or subluxation (misalignment), of the cervical spine and upper-back. It is not common for people to know that improperly sitting in a chair or looking at a computer monitor all day can cause pressure on the spine. This can lead to a number of problems.
Chiropractic treatment can help you relieve your pain and make lasting changes. The Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Center in Durham (N.C.) published a 2001 study that showed that spinal manipulation can almost immediately improve headaches that are caused by the neck. The study found that spinal manipulation treatments were more effective than commonly prescribed medications for tension headaches and had fewer side effects.
Conclusion
Chiropractic treatment can also help with headaches through trigger point therapy, massage, and spinal manipulation. These treatments are very effective and I recommend that my patients also engage in physical therapy. This can correct and restore your posture and provide long-lasting relief.