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Do You Suffer Regular Headaches?

Published On: November 4, 2024By Tags: , , , , , ,

Regular headaches are something that many of us just put up with. Maybe it’s due to not getting enough sleep, stress, hormones or needing new glasses.  However, if you find that you get headaches and also suffer with neck and shoulder pain/stiffness, this could be the source of the headaches.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

There are many classifications of headaches, including migraine, sinus and cluster headaches. One of the classifications is cervicogenic headaches. This essentially means that the headache is originating from the neck. Typically pain will start at the back of the head, where the head joins the neck; this bone is called the occiput.

The reason the headache occurs is that muscles that connect the neck to the occiput become tight or in “spasm” and the pain is referred to one or both sides of the skull.  It often feels like the headache is focussed at the temples or above the eyes. Sometimes the headache will be aggravated by movements of the head and neck, and be worse in the morning. Headaches can also occur if the nerve roots in the upper neck become irritated, which again refers pain in a similar pattern.

This article is relevant to me at the moment, because I have had three patients recently who had been complaining of headaches, either as a primary complaint, or as an associated factor to neck and back pain. All had varying degrees of upper neck restriction, together with muscle tightness and muscles that were sore to touch. Furthermore, all have responded very well to chiropractic care with significant reduction in the frequency and severity of headaches.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Chiropractic can have excellent results with cervicogenic headaches. It can also help with other types of headaches, including those classified as ‘Tension Type Headaches'(TTPs). If vertebral joints in the neck become misaligned or subjected to excessive tension, this can cause muscle imbalance in the neck and can, if left unresolved, lead to nerve root irritation and joint degeneration. This can arise from a range of factors including poor postural habits, sleeping habits and unresolved injuries such as whiplash.

Research suggests that spinal manipulation can reduce the intensity and frequency of cervicogenic headaches. Spinal manipulation helps to improve the alignment of joints, facilitating better movement and enabling muscles to relax. Even if you do not suffer from neck pain, restricted movement in the neck is common nowadays and can manifest in other ways such as headaches and shoulder pain.

Main – Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

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About the Author: Robert Spratley

I started my working life in the IT industry. Sitting long hours initially didn’t bother me. I was young and back pain wasn’t a thing in your 20s – right?! Then in my late 20s I injured my back carrying a piano. Although I didn’t have any pain immediately, over the coming days and weeks, my back started to hurt and I was getting pain down my right leg. I saw a physiotherapist on my GP’s referral and although it helped it didn’t resolve the pain for long. A friend of mine suggested seeing a chiropractor. This did help – and ignited an interest in how and why it helped as well as why I was in pain. Subsequently, I started my training to become a chiropractor and 5 years later qualified in 2013. As all new chiropractors do, I tested different techniques to see what seemed to work the best for me and my patients. During my first year of practice, I went to a seminar in Advanced Biostructural Correction (ABC). This turned out to be quite a radical approach to why bodies go wrong and how to fix them. The word ‘why‘ is important here because most techniques focus on looking at what is out of alignment in the skeleton and how to adjust it. But what if the misalignment is due to some other underlying problem that the body cannot fix? And how did this problem occur? This is where ABC shed light and provided a reliable and consistent template to fix structural body problems. In practical terms, I found that being treated with the ABC technique stabilised my body allowing my muscles to relax rather than constantly fighting against gravity to hold me upright. Previous techniques offered relief for a while by freeing up joints but then the tension and pain returned – because my body was still unstable. Furthermore, my body had formed layer upon layer of compensations to try and deal with the underlying issues that have taken time to unravel. These include fatigue, headaches, knee pain and shoulder pain. After receiving regular ABC treatment for almost a year, my symptoms were much improved. The goal of ABC is to have an ‘unawareness’ of your body. Most of us, if we stand still for a moment and focus on our body will realise that something hurts or doesn’t feel right. This is because it isn’t right. Pain often becomes like a background noise you get accustomed to and forget what silence sounds like. This is the aim with Advanced Biostructural Correction. Contact Details Email: info@rebalancechiropractic.co.uk Website Facebook Instagram X

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