An occasional headache is an uncomfortable temporary annoyance, but a life dominated by headaches and migraines can seem like unending agony. A wide range of physical imbalances and environmental triggers can cause frequent bouts of headache pain, causing serious interference with your daily productivity while dramatically reducing your quality of life. Analgesics can (sometimes) turn down the volume on your pain, but they can’t tackle its underlying cause. Fortunately, there’s a more powerful and effective path to headache and migraine relief, the natural therapies and techniques practiced here at Islands Chiropractic & Massage!
The Causes of Headaches and Migraines
Headaches may be caused by health conditions such as tumors or extreme hypertension, but the most common type of headache, the tension headache, is primarily musculoskeletal in origin. Physical or emotional stress can tighten the muscles of the back, neck, shoulders and jaw, while chronic postural issues or a cervical spinal misalignment can create a constant unnatural pull on these structures. When a tiny muscle in the upper cervical region known as the RCPM muscle is stressed, it can go into spasm, tugging on a highly sensitive membrane known as the dura matter. The next thing you know, you’re in pain.
Migraines are harder to understand because they have so many potential triggers, from hormonal changes to certain foods or even changes in the weather. They also tend to be more debilitating than tension headaches, causing nausea, vomiting, extreme light and sound sensitivity, and visual distortions called “auras.” It’s believed that constrictions in blood vessels, possibly influenced by serotonin imbalances and the way the trigeminal nerve interacts with the brainstem, create this dreaded condition.
Contact Our Gilbert Chiropractor Today
Our Gilbert chiropractor can evaluate your medical history, diet, posture, and current symptoms to create a personalized treatment plan that addresses, not just your symptoms, but the causes of your headache or migraine issues. In many cases, spinal adjustments, especially those made to the vertebrae of the neck and upper back, can correct longstanding muscle strains that keep triggering tension headaches. We may also recommend ergonomic changes and corrective exercises to promote healthier posture, along with massage to relieve tight muscles.
Our natural treatment methods can also benefit migraine sufferers. Chiropractic adjustments help the nervous system function more efficiently, and this can help normalize your neurotransmitter levels to prevent those sudden changes in blood vessel diameter. We can also help you pinpoint potential triggers, recommending dietary adjustments and other lifestyle changes to help you avoid setting off a migraine attack.
If you are tired of spending your life either debilitated by your current headache or living in dread of the next one, then you need to take the first critical step toward natural, non-invasive treatment for your pain. Contact our Gilbert chiropractor at Islands Chiropractic & Massage for an initial consultation and spinal evaluation. We can help you get the upper hand over that pain in your head!
For more information about headaches & migraines, call us at (480) 545-4580!