Headaches and migraines - chiropractic

Did you know that up to 90% of adults report having some variation of headaches (1)?

Headaches and migraines are the sixth leading cause of disability worldwide(2) and affect women more commonly than men. Research further shows that migraines have even been linked to changes in the structure of the brain.

For some, headaches present as a mild irritation that slows them down at home or decreases their productivity at work.  It’s commonly described as ”annoying but manageable”. Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone. For many sufferers, symptoms present as a disabling pain that leave them unable to function and greatly affect their quality of life. Beyond the physical pain, there are secondary problems that often develop alongside the headache including fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, altered movement patterns, impaired decision making and even behavioural problems.

Headaches can be classified into four main types:

• Tension
• Cluster
• Migraine
• Medication rebound

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. There are more than 150 different diagnostic categories 3 including trauma, sinus, nutrition and tumours.

With treatment of disease, the focus is often largely on decreasing the symptoms associated with the disease process with little regard for the underlying cause.  Headaches are no exception, with treatment protocol usually involving painkillers, muscle relaxants, massage and pain modulating devices. These forms of care usually only result in short-term relief.

Apart from the harmful effects of drugs, their numbing effect forces the body to develop compensation patterns in an attempt to deal with the underlying factors.  These compensation patterns often lead to overuse and damage elsewhere in the body over the long term. Muscles, bones, nerves, tendons, joints, blood vessels and fascia could all play a role in head pain.  The question should not only be how to get rid of the pain but what is the cause of the pain?

Recent advances in the research and technology of bodywork have found that poor posture could be at the root of it all.

When standing in a relaxed upright posture your body is meant to hold you up by use of your postural muscles. Due to our unnatural lifestyle and habits, these vital postural muscles are often weak and unable to keep us from slumping. As the torso leans forward in this slumped posture, it creates tension in the soft tissue and fascia, leading to compression of the delicate structures in the nervous system and, consequently, pain!

Unfortunately, these pain signals often only appear years later, once the body has attempted every compensation pattern and exhausted all of its adaption protocols.

Could posture be at the root of a headache? Possibly. An effective place to start is to have an in-depth posture analysis by a professional. This will provide insight into the current structure of the spine and the consequent impact on the function of the nervous system.  The goal is not only to find the cause of the pain locally but to look at the body as a whole.