Headaches
How Common Are Headaches?
Headaches affect approximately 50% of Canadians annually and impact individuals of all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. They are twice as common in women as in men. This is due to hormonal influences and are among the top five causes of disability in women.
Many people with headaches suffer in silence without reaching out for help. You may not realize that you can make lifestyle and postural changes that can reduce the incidence and severity of your headache.
The most common types include:
- Tension Headaches
- Cervicogenic Headaches (arising from spinal tissues)
- Migraine Headaches
- Cluster Headaches (less common but highly debilitating)
You can suffer from more than one type of headache at the same time.
What Causes a Headache?
Headache triggers vary by type and may include:
- Genetics
- Stress and poor posture
- Jaw dysfunction
- Poor ergonomics
- Inadequate spinal care
- Lack of exercise, poor form during exercise ,or harmful postures
- Sleep issues, such as sleeping on your stomach
- Colds, flu, or irregular eating patterns
- Medication reactions
- High blood pressure
Chiropractic Headache Treatments:
Doctors of Chiropractic are trained to identify and treat headaches without medication. Diagnosis starts with a detailed patient history and physical exam, and referrals for X-rays or medical evaluation are made if needed.
During an examination, the doctor may gently attempt to reproduce your headache by pressing on certain muscles, tendons and ligaments in your head and neck. This is done to isolate the origin of the headache so that treatment can proceed more effectively.
Conservative treatments we offer include:
- Spinal Manipulation or Mobilization: to restore lost segmental spinal motion, reduce pain, reduce muscle spasm, and increase overall motion
- Massage & Trigger Point Therapy: that reduces muscle tension, trigger points, and improves circulation
- Progressive Muscular Facilitation: to lengthen and relax muscles and correct muscle imbalances
- Advice on Postural Correction: to prevent unnecessary stress and loads on the spine
- Ergonomic Advice: to reduce strain on the spine and accelerate healing
- Exercise Guidance: to teach which exercises and activities to avoid
- Heat and Cold Therapy: to reduce pain and inflammation
The vast majority of patients can be managed with conservative treatments (without the use of drugs).
Goals of Chiropractic Manual Therapy/Manipulation
- reduce pain and inflammation
- increase segmental and overall spine motion by re-establishing motion that has been lost at the facet joints
- reduce irritation of nerves that carry pain messages
- relax muscles that are tight or in spasm
- help prevent further progression of spinal degeneration
If you are in pain and cannot move well, book a spinal examination today.
When to Seek Emergency Help for Headaches?
Red Flag Headache Symptoms – Seek Immediate Medical Attention If You Experience:
- Sudden, intense headache (“like your head is exploding”)
- A new type of headache after age 50
- Persistent morning headaches with nausea
- A new headache and a history of cancer
- A headache progressively worsening over weeks
- A headache triggered by changes in posture
- An aura lasting longer than 60 minutes
- Weakness or numbness in one limb or one side of the body
- Headache after taking oral contraceptives for the first time
- Headaches with fever, rash, or altered consciousness, which may indicate meningitis or encephalitis
- Vision loss, double vision
- Speech difficulties (slurred speech, drooling)
Though the risk of stroke (which in young women is extremely low – less than .01% in all women / 9 women per 100,000 women), women who smoke or take oral contraceptives are at higher risk, particularly right after childbirth or if they are dehydrated.
Though not the most common symptom of stroke, a headache can be present with a stroke in up to 30% of cases of stroke.
When becoming a new patient, it is important that you provide a full account of your history on your Intake Form so that the diagnosis of your headache is clear. We only offer treatment for headaches when it is safe to do so.
For example, it is important that you share if you have:
-
- Smoked or still do
- High blood pressure
- Migraine headaches with an aura
- Personal or family history of a clotting disorder
- Been taking birth control pills
Chiropractic spinal manipulation is a very safe form of treatment and has not been found to CAUSE stroke. Stroke rarely occurs following neck manipulation and is so rare that medical research has estimated the risk to be 1 in 3-5 million.
In fact, it is safer to have your neck adjusted by a chiropractor than it is to take oral medications such as Tylenol.
We offer chiropractic care for tension and cervicogenic headaches.
For treatment of Headaches in midtown Toronto, click on Directions in the map below!
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