Headache

What are headaches?

The feeling of pain or intense pressure in your head that's known as a headache is such a common ailment that almost everyone experiences one at some point, and most people have them numerous times.

Headaches can present themselves in a number of ways. Some people get pain in a specific part of their head or behind their eyes. Others get a pounding pain that affects their entire head.

Headache pain can vary from dull to sharp and can last for a matter of minutes or persist for several days. There are many different types of headaches — more than 150, in fact — but fortunately, most don't indicate serious underlying conditions. However, if you have recurrent headaches that frequently affect you, they can have a significant impact on your quality of life. 

What causes headaches?

Headaches have a variety of causes. One of the most common is stress, which leads to tension or cervicogenic headaches. Tension headaches are likely to affect you if you have a lot of worries, and they often happen on a recurring basis. Stress also causes tension in your neck muscles, particularly in the back of your neck and scalp.

Other causes of headaches include:

• Vertebral misalignment
• Drug reactions
• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction
• Low blood sugar
• High blood pressure
• Fatigue

Headaches are also a common symptom of many other conditions, from colds and flu to mental health disorders.

What are migraine headaches?

Migraine headaches are a type of recurrent headaches. They cause disabling pain as well as nausea and vomiting, extreme fatigue, and, in some cases, visual disturbances called auras, where you see spots or flashing lights. 

A less common form of recurrent headache is the cluster headache, which is a cousin to the migraine.

How does chiropractic care help with headaches?

If your headache is due to misalignment (subluxation) in your cervical vertebrae, chiropractic techniques can help by realigning the bones. Studies of headaches caused by neck pain show that chiropractic adjustments can be very effective in resolving the problem. Chiropractic adjustments are also particularly helpful in treating tension headaches.

The team at Melilli Chiropractic and Rehab Center assesses each patient individually before starting treatment. Tension headaches typically improve following the skillful manipulation of the upper two cervical vertebrae and adjustments to the junction between your cervical and thoracic spine.

This approach is also helpful for patients who have migraine headaches. In these patients, the Melilli Chiropractic and Rehab Center team also looks at reducing the frequency and severity of migraine attacks by helping you learn to avoid the triggers that set your migraines off.

The team also uses trigger point therapy to treat recurrent headaches.

Find out how chiropractic care can relieve your headaches by calling Melilli Chiropractic and Rehab Center today.