Headaches
Effective relief from Headache starts here!
We work with you to find the cause, get you out of pain and give you ways to keep the pain away long term.
Combination of approaches to find the cause of your pain
Different techniques to get you out of pain fast
Exercises to make sure the pain stays under control long term
Why Headaches Occur
Is it a headache or a migraine? Am I just tired? Dehydrated? Not enough coffee? Eye strain? Coming from my neck? Is it serious?
There are several types of headache that respond well to chiropractic, the trick is to identify what sort of headache you are having so we can treat it appropriately.
Cervicogenic Headache
Headaches coming from the joints in the neck are usually on one side and feel like they start at the back of the head and travel around to above the eye. Most of the time the headache is aggravated by poor posture which puts strain on the upper cervical spine.
Tension Headache
Tension headaches are common and are usually caused by muscles at the base of your skull (suboccipital muscles or upper traps) tightening up.
Migraine Headache
Migraine Headaches come in all shapes and sizes. One side of your head, nausea, light and sound sensitive is the most common. Migraines are caused by an overactivity in the trigeminal nucleus in your brainstem.
Neurogenic Inflammation Headache
There are small sensory nerves at the back of your skull called your Greater Occipital Nerves. If the sub-occipital muscles have tightened up they can put pressure on the nerves in the area which can cause headaches.
Common causes of Headaches
Your neck has 7 vertebrae (C1-C7), each bone has 2 facet joints and 1 disc.
Tension Headaches and Cervicogenic Headaches both have a common cause which is too much tension on the muscles and joints in your neck. The reason for this has to do with an important postural muscle called your Deep Neck Flexors which protect your joints and give you good posture. It’s only a little muscle and is prone to weakening over time, especially after whiplash. Once the weakness kicks in you compensate by tightening up your upper traps (top of your shoulders) or sub occipital muscles. Too much tension in the traps causes compression of your discs and joints leading to wear and tear = Osteoarthritis.
Our approach to treating Headache pain
At Brain and Body Health we have been treating Headaches successfully since 2006. Ongoing study has changed our approach to include several techniques to get you out of pain asap.
Techniques we use:
Step 1
Assess the pain
Chiropractic examination to look at your spinal health combined with using Activforce Digital Strength Assessment to find the muscular imbalances that have lead to the pain help us to figure out what we need to do to get rid of the pain.
Step 2
Get rid of the pain
Using a combination of techniques our goal is to get the pain under control so you can start strengthening your neck. Techniques include Chiropractic; Laser Therapy; Massage; Dry Needling; Prologel for Nerve Pain.
Step 3
Make sure the pain doesn’t come back
You need to strengthen the weak muscles around your neck to make sure the pain doesn’t return. Repairing the muscle imbalance that caused the pain in the first place is key.
Ready to get rid of your Headaches?
P.S. If you’re still not sure, we can do a free 20-minute phone consult to figure out if we can help or not.